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CHAMPIONING THE UN
One of the challenges of writing about the United Nations in the 21st century is the knee-jerk response of critics who have lost sight of the mission of the UN in an environment of politicized globalism. What’s typically missing in the criticism is the humanity in that mission…the human-ness.
Few embraced that humanity like the late U.S. Senator and candidate for President of the United States, George McGovern. McGovern was an outspoken and fearless champion for the bedrock issues of peace and human dignity and ending hunger at the heart of the UN.
This Sunday, the Dane County Chapter of the United Nations Association will honor the memory of George McGovern at a special luncheon at Monona Terrace. Former Congressman David Obey is the keynote speaker. The Dane County chapter of the organization is a good one. And this should be a good event. We thought some of you might like to know about it. | <urn:uuid:57bd99fa-8467-4b0a-b797-6cf32d1bbd29> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.channel3000.com/news/opinion/Championing-The-UN/-/4028/19113056/-/fn65oz/-/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93227 | 198 | 1.773438 | 2 |
Rising wholesale prices outpaced economists’ forecasts last month. The Producer Price Index (PPI), rose by a seasonally adjusted 0.3% in July, according to data released by the Labor Department this morning.
That exceeded the 0.2% increase predicted by economists, Dow Jones noted. It also marked the second consecutive monthly increase in wholesale prices.
July’s PPI gain was driven by increases in the cost of food production due to the lingering drought in the Midwest. Overall food costs increased 0.5% last month, thanks to beef prices, which jumped 3.8% on rising feed costs.
The costs of pharmaceuticals and light trucks rose 0.9% and 1.6%, respectively. Fuel prices declined 0.4% during July, which helped offset rising costs in other categories. During the month, gasoline prices dropped 0.3%.
Decreasing energy costs have helped keep inflation down by falling for five consecutive months.
According to the government, costs for the nation’s producers rose 2.5% over last year. The annual inflation rate for producers hit 0.5% last month. | <urn:uuid:c3ab6b2e-e4fa-4a69-986f-e124fc3224ae> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://investorplace.com/2012/08/producer-prices-rise-more-than-expected-in-july/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964995 | 233 | 1.757813 | 2 |
If Washington issued air miles for flying on government aeroplanes, Hillary Clinton would be inundated. But after becoming the most-travelled US secretary of state in history on Tuesday upon returning to Andrews Air Force Base from a 13-day jaunt spanning 27,000 miles, more flying is the last thing she needs.
If not everyone is ready to give President Barack Obama and his team five stars on foreign policy, one thing is for sure: as his top diplomat for the last three-and-a-half years, Ms Clinton has toiled spectacularly. That she wins a two-thirds approval rating in poll after poll is in part due to that image of tirelessness.
Since the start of 2009, Ms Clinton has travelled no fewer than 351 days and has flown 843,839 miles. That was the number on the clock on Tuesday after a skip around the globe that included France, Afghanistan, Japan, Mongolia, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Egypt and Israel.
While it may be that some previous secretaries had more miles on their odometers because of shuttling to and from the Middle East, Ms Clinton is unbeaten when it comes to numbers of nations visited - 102 - four more than the previous record-holder, Madeleine Albright, who served under Bill Clinton.
Ms Clinton was the first US Secretary of State to visit Laos in 57 years and the first to visit Burma since the 1950s. In Egypt, her motorcade was pelted with tomatoes and onlookers yelled "Monica, Monica", a taunt meant to take her back to the humiliation suffered when her then president husband misbehaved with a certain intern.
© THE INDEPENDENT | <urn:uuid:16a23596-8d34-4cbc-8ff6-8dc3c4e27bf5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2012-07-19/news/32747619_1_travel-record-hillary-clinton-bill-clinton | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967156 | 344 | 1.664063 | 2 |
the yes but you wouldn't have to hold it in if the ENTIRE OUTSIDE WAS ROCKNot if you hold it in with the bending. Remember what I said, only master Fire benders would be capable of this.
Check out my other topics about the other links in bending. They are located in the other three bending boards.
Correction: Lava does not -- in fact -- need oxygen to exist, it merely needs to stay hot. Oxygen is only required to fuel combustion, AKA fire. Lava is not actually fire, just extremely hot rock. In theory, a firebender could just keep the lava moving enough to keep it heating itself (kinda like the earth's core, ya know? no oxygen down there for your information). That being said, I'm fairly sure the entire argument is null and void since I don't believe a firebender can manipulate lava since, as I said, it's hot earth, not fire. The only time we've seen lava being manipulated was by the avatar, who is capable of earth bending. I may be wrong, but it makes sense if you think about it.Yes you would. Fire needs Oxygen to survive (Which is ironic in Avatar since the Fire nation killed the Air nomads). I am not sure about lava, but it too may need oxygen to survive, therefore a hole in the rock may be nessicary. The hole probably wouldnt have to be large.
And yes, most volcanoes have some sort of air flow, therefore they can get air underground.
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 0 guests | <urn:uuid:8507d5e5-beec-41e5-9c6e-897c2c8cc309> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://theavatarportal.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=136664 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966179 | 329 | 1.695313 | 2 |
Shvat 1, 5767
The Gross Domestic Product
per capita in the Israeli Jewish sector is three times that of the Israeli
Arab sector, a poll conducted by the Arab Center for Alternative Planning
revealed on Thursday.
The GDP per capita in the Jewish public stands at $19,150, compared to $6,750 in the Arab sector.
The director of the center, economist Raja Khoury, called on the government Thursday to invest the resources necessary to smooth out the gap between the sectors.
The figures were presented Thursday in a conference in Nazareth, organized by the center. The poll was conducted by MK Hanna Swaid, who served as the center's director before he was elected to Knesset.
GDP is a total value of sales and services produced in a certain area. Khoury told Haaretz that the figures were collected through official state publications. The probe did not include East Jerusalem, the Golan Heights, or mixed Arab-Jewish cities. It should be noted that the figures published by state institutions are not generally organized according to divisions between Arab and Jewish communities.
The Center for Alternative Planning compared the figures in its probe with figures published by the United Nations Development Program in its Human Development Reports. | <urn:uuid:ca50c51f-cf93-4969-8ca7-55e1f8e95055> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.christusrex.org/www1/news/haaretz-1-19-07a.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96779 | 255 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia talked about campaign finance during an appearance on CNN last night. Here’s what he had to say, via TPM (emphasis added, related to this week’s debate on DISCLOSE):
Asked whether the controversial Citizens United ruling, which affirmed unlimited spending to influence elections, has led to an abuse of the political process, Scalia rejected the view.
“No, I think Thomas Jefferson would have said the more speech the better,” the justice said. “That’s what the First Amendment is all about. So long as the people know where the speech is coming from. … You can’t separate speech from the money that facilitates the speech. It’s utterly impossible. Could you tell newspaper publishers you could only spend so much money in the publication of the newspapers?”
“I think, as I think the framers thought, that the more speech the better. Now, you are entitled to know where the speech is coming from. You know, information as to who contributed what. That’s something else.” | <urn:uuid:ac99830e-06e1-42c6-88c0-81b7105626c1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://campaignmoney.tumblr.com/post/27549540019/justice-scalia-on-campaign-finance | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968091 | 229 | 1.695313 | 2 |
The Republican-controlled Wyoming House of Representatives killed legislation Wednesday night that would have allowed domestic partnerships.
In a 25-34 vote, the House rejected the domestic partnership legislation, the first time Wyoming lawmakers formally voted on legislation related to marriage equality. The legislation’s defeat comes after the House Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions Committee passed the domestic partnership bill on Monday, while defeating a measure that would have allowed gay marriage.
“Just a sad day for the Equality State,” state Rep. Dan Zwonitzer (R-Cheyenne) told The Huffington Post. Zwonitzer has been a leading supporter of gay rights in the legislature, including several efforts to kill gay marriage bans since his election in 2004. | <urn:uuid:5f208454-ebe3-46fe-bb9c-ae0d736b6e0a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.scenereleases.eu/wyoming-house-defeats-domestic-partnership/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960575 | 150 | 1.507813 | 2 |
On Monday a very rare supercar, a $2M-McLaren F1, literally went up in smoke on a Santa Rosa street and reported in the Santa Rosa Press Democrat.
Irv Kessler was driving along on Airport Boulevard in Santa Rosa, California when someone noticed some smoke coming from the back of the car.
But by the time he exited the car to check the problem, the car was engulfed by flames.
Luckily Kessler told the firefighters that while it is worth around US$2 million, it is insured for US$3 million.
The insurance actuaries decided to pack it up and send the vehicle back to England where it was made to be repaired.
Only 100 of these cars were ever made and most aficionados claim it to be the best driving/handling/performance street car ever developed.
The F1 was powered by a BMW S70/2 engine. 6.1 liter, quad cam, 48 valve V12 behemoth producing a whopping 627 hp.
Top speed is an amazing 240.1 mph (386.7 km/h). | <urn:uuid:8818fc22-7b83-446d-8c6e-69b92a267c60> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.luxuo.com/automobile/mclaren-f1-destroyed-by-fire.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956433 | 223 | 1.726563 | 2 |
A boy who senses something is wrong with his father calls McCall to help him. McCall learns that he is being pressured to help some people rob his employer. McCall has a plan to help him but the people coercing the father grabs the boy and tells McCall not to interfere. So McCall has to find out how they knew about him and where the boy is. Written by
Did You Know?
I'll tell you what we're going to do. You are going to take me to where you and Slate have that boy hidden. And if you so much as attempt to refuse me, I am going to take you apart, piece. By nasty. Little. Piece. | <urn:uuid:c87a941d-47e7-4e69-bce3-05d0a4e69dcd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0572575/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973378 | 140 | 1.585938 | 2 |
Wednesday, May 22, 2002 04:05 AM
I have a web application running on apache and tomcat. It uses ssl when clients connect.
I want to be able to provide a secondary web server that I could redirect users to if the primary one is down. Can this be done using one domain and ssl certificate? or will i have to have two domains each with ssl certificates, for each machine and do a redirect on the DNS. | <urn:uuid:14c0675d-c729-416a-b17b-a4d8aae10c1a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.jguru.com/forums/view.jsp?EID=888075 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931461 | 94 | 1.828125 | 2 |
It is difficult enough to serve on a corporate board. It is not a job for the weak stomached. Corporate boards have faced unprecedented risks. Aside from general board duties, regulators are increasing scrutiny of board committees, especially audit committees.
In the early 2000s, audit committees were under the microscope after a series of corporate fraud scandals resulted in Sarbanes-Oxley reforms, focusing on internal controls, management financial certifications, enhanced audit committee responsibilities, and increased auditor oversight.
In response to the financial crisis of 2008, the Dodd-Frank Act focused on corporate governance and executive compensation. Audit committees were not the focus of this round of reform; instead, the Act focused on compensation issues.
The Obama Administration and investors, however, have raised concerns about audit committees and the performance of auditors during the financial crisis. The PCAOB, led by its new Chairman, James Doty, has launched a number of initiatives during this past year that once again put auditors and audit committees in the regulatory spotlight.
The PCAOB has launched four separate projects to address: (1) Auditor independence, including the possibility of audit firm rotation; (2) Increasing requirements for audit committee communications; (3) Greater audit transparency and disclosures of auditors; and (4) Expanding auditor reports to require that specific issues are addressed.
The most controversial of the PCAOB’s proposals is to require that public companies change their audit firms. Such a requirement could increase company costs and reduce quality. Audit committees would have limited discretion to retain certain firms if they come up against a mandatory rotation requirement.
Aside from this proposal, the other three initiatives could have significant impact on audit committees by requiring increased communications and discussions between auditors and audit committees; increased transparency and disclosure of personnel involved in the audit; and changes in the nature and substance of audit reports. | <urn:uuid:d3f53389-8f73-4d36-8f9a-7607089fe526> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/increased-focus-on-audit-committees-14908/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959734 | 379 | 1.789063 | 2 |
Tallahassee, FL - Amber Kristian makes sure to buckle her daughter Kaitlyn into her booster seat every time they get in the car. As Kaitlyn gets bigger, we asked her mom, how long she plans on using that booster seat.
"I think they say four foot is the magic number," said Kristian. That magic number could soon be 4'9" if one lawmaker in Florida has his way. A bill just filed Monday by Senator Thad Altman would keep little ones, like 6 year old Kaitlyn, in that booster seat while she's younger than seven, or shorter than 4'9", whichever comes first. Which for her is still about nine inches away.
"You can never be too safe with children in the car," said Officer Dave Northway with the Tallahassee Police Department. He says having that booster seat could make all the difference in an accident.
"It takes up the space to the seat belt so that they're matched to it. The booster seat takes up that space they would be occupying if they were bigger," said Officer Northway.
The bill to put a height and age requirement in place has come and gone at the Florida Capitol for more than a decade. Not passing, in some cases, because of a concern for families who can't afford to upgrade. But law or not, some parents say strapping in gives them peace of mind every time they get in the car.
Sen. Altman pushed this bill in the last legislative session, but it failed to pass. | <urn:uuid:ba941d95-bcc5-485e-9ae2-b71411045441> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wctv.tv/politics/misc/Booster-Seat-Age-Requirement-180942381.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.982568 | 318 | 1.65625 | 2 |
Kolkata, June 14 (IANS) Amid global economic downturn and India's persistent slowdown in economic growth, Brazil is optimistic that its bilateral trade with India would surpass the target of $15 billion by 2015, its envoy to India said Thursday
Currently, the volume of trade between the two countries stood at $10 billion.
"Both the countries are allowing for a lot of opportunities in trade among themselves. There is a lot of scope for growth," Brazilian Ambassador Carlos Duarte said here.
"We will continuously work together towards that goal (of $15 billion). I hope that we would surpass that target," he said.
In the backdrop of India's persistent slowdown in economic growth, rating agency Standard and Poor's has recently warned that India would be among the first BRICS country to lose investment grade status. The other BRICS countries are Brazil, Russia, China and South Africa.
Duarte said there were a lot of opportunities for India to invest in Brazil's hotels and infrastructure sectors as the South American country would host the FIFA world cup and Olympic Games in 2014 and 2016, respectively.
He said there was scope for Indian investment in IT and oil and gas industries in Brazil as well. | <urn:uuid:7fa38e1e-69ba-4c43-93eb-fefb88799669> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://in.news.yahoo.com/brazil-optimistic-crossing-15-bn-trade-target-india-152228098--finance.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975956 | 245 | 1.515625 | 2 |
To-day I had hoped to see our President inaugurated, but the rain falls in torrents, and I cannot go. So many persons are disappointed, but we are comforted by knowing that the inauguration will take place, and that the reins of our government will continue to be in strong hands. His term of six years must be eventful, and to him, and all others, so full of anxiety! What may we not experience during those six years? Oh, that all hearts may this day be raised to Almighty God for his guidance! Has there been a day since the Fourth of July, 1776, so full of interest, so fraught with danger, so encompassed by anxiety, so sorrowful, and yet so hopeful, as this 22d of February, 1862? Our wrongs then were great, and our enemy powerful, but neither can the one nor the other compare with all that we have endured from the oppression, and must meet in the gigantic efforts of the Federal Government. Our people are depressed by our recent disasters, but our soldiers are encouraged by the bravery and endurance of the troops at Donelson. It fell, but not until human nature yielded from exhaustion. The Greeks were overcome at Thermopylae, but were the Persians encouraged by their success? Did they still cherish contempt for their weak foe? And will the conquerors of Donelson meet our little army again with the same self-confidence? Has not our Spartan band inspired them with great respect for their valour, to say nothing of awe?
Our neighbour in the next room had two sons in that dreadful fight. Do they survive? Poor old lady! She can hear nothing from them; the telegraphic wires in Tennessee are cut, and mail communication very uncertain. It is so sad to see the mother and sister quietly pursuing their avocations, not knowing, the former says, whether she is not the second time widowed; for on those sons depend not only her comfort, but her means of subsistence, and that fair young girl, always accustomed to perfect ease, is now, with her old mother, boarding — confined to one room, using her taste and ingenuity, making and altering bonnets for her many acquaintances, that her mother may be supplied with the little luxuries to which she has always been accustomed, and which, her child says, “mother must have.” “Our property,” she says, “is not available, and, of course, ‘the boys’ had to give up their business to go into the army.”
SOURCE: McGuire, Judith W., Diary of a Southern Refugee, During the War, p. 94-5 | <urn:uuid:834d5795-2c4d-4d16-bbfb-3d611600cc37> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2013/01/diary-of-judith-w-mcguire-richmond_15.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.98292 | 548 | 1.8125 | 2 |
United States v. Wardwell - 172 U.S. 48 (1898)
U.S. Supreme Court
United States v. Wardwell, 172 U.S. 48 (1898)
United States v. Wardwell
Argued October 20, 1898
Decided November 28, 1898
172 U.S. 48
APPEAL FROM THE COURT OF CLAIMS
Three cheques were drawn in June, 1869, by authorized army officers upon the Assistant Treasurer of the United States in New York in favor of Wardwell and in payment of his lawful claims against the United States. These cheques, while in his possession, were lost or destroyed, presumably in a depredation made on his house by hostile Indians in 1872. Not having been presented for payment, the amount of these cheques was covered into the Treasury in pursuance of the statutes of the United States, and was carried to the account of "outstanding liabilities." Wardwell having died, his administratrix applied to the Treasury for payment of the cheques by the issue of Treasury warrants under the authority conferred by Rev.Stat. §§ 306, 307, 308. This payment being refused, this suit was brought in the Court of Claims in April, 1896, and the statute of limitations was set up as a defense. Held that the promise by the government contained in the statute to hold money so paid into the Treasury was a continuing promise available to plaintiff at any
time she saw fit, to which full force should be given; that there was no cause for a suit until after refusal of an application for a warrant, and that then, for the first time, a claim for the breach of the contract accrued and the limitations prescribed by Rev.Stat. § 1069 began to run.
This is an appeal from the Court of Claims. The facts as found by that court are that in June, 1869, three checks were drawn in favor of William v. B. Wardwell, one by Major W. B. Rochester, Paymaster, United States Army, and two by Major M. I. Ludington, Quartermaster, United States Army, all drawn on the Assistant Treasurer of the United States in New York, and in payment of lawful claims of Wardwell against the United States. Subsequently to the issue of the checks, and while still in the possession and ownership of Wardwell, they were lost or destroyed, probably in a depredation committed on his house by Indians in the year 1872. None of the checks having been presented for payment, the amounts thereof were covered into the Treasury of the United States and carried to the account of "Outstanding Liabilities" in pursuance of the Act of May 2, 1866, now sections 306 and following of the Revised Statutes, the entry on the books of the Treasury (as shown by a report made by the Secretary of the Treasury to the House of Representatives) being as follows:
Balance Due Balance Due from
Name Period United States from United States
W. v. B. Wardwell 1872 . . . . $461.87
William V. B. Wardwell 1872 . . . . 500.00
Do. 1872 . . . . 1,017.39
No part of the same has ever been paid. Wardwell is dead, and the claimant is his duly appointed and acting administratrix. As such she, in 1890, applied to the Treasury Department for payment of the checks by the issue of Treasury warrants, and at the same time filed a bond of indemnity, with sufficient sureties, for double the amounts thereof, to secure the United States against a possible second demand for payment. The first Comptroller of the Treasury declined to permit
the settlement of a new account or the issue of warrants in favor of the claimant. Thereafter, and on April 10, 1896, she commenced this suit. As a conclusion of law, the court found that the statute of limitations did not begin to run until the 14th day of April, 1890, the time when the accounting officers of the Treasury refused to recognize the claimant's demand, and that she was entitled to recover the amount of the three checks, and on the 11th day of January, 1897, entered judgment for that amount. From such judgment the United States appealed to this Court.
Section 1069, Rev.Statutes, provides:
"Every claim against the United States cognizable by the Court of Claims shall be forever barred unless the petition setting forth a statement thereof is filed in the court, or transmitted to it by the secretary of the Senate or the clerk of the House of Representatives as provided by law, within six years after the claim first accrues, provided that the claims of married women first accrued during marriage, of persons under the age of twenty-one years first accrued during minority, and of idiots, lunatics, insane persons, and persons beyond the seas at the time the claim accrued, entitled to the claim, shall not be barred if the petition be filed in the court or transmitted, as aforesaid, within three years after the disability has ceased; but no other disability than those enumerated shall prevent any claim from being barred, nor shall any of the said disabilities operate cumulatively."
The Act of May 2, 1866, is entitled
"An act to facilitate the settlement of the accounts of the Treasurer of the United States, and to secure certain moneys to the people of the United States, or to persons to whom they are due, and who are entitled to receive the same."
14 Stat. 41.
This was carried into the Revised Statutes as sections 306 and following. Section 306, 307, and 308 read:
"SEC. 306. At the termination of each fiscal year, all amounts of moneys that are represented by certificates, drafts or checks, issued by the treasurer, or by any disbursing officer of any department of the government, upon the Treasurer or any Assistant Treasurer or designated depositary of the United
States, or upon any national bank designated as a depositary of the United States, and which shall be represented on the books of either of such offices as standing to the credit of any disbursing officer, and which were issued to facilitate the payment of warrants, or for any other purpose in liquidation of a debt due from the United States, and which have for three years or more remained outstanding, unsatisfied, and unpaid shall be deposited by the Treasurer, to be covered into the Treasury by warrant and to be carried to the credit of the parties in whose favor such certificates, drafts or checks were respectively issued or to the persons who are entitled to receive pay therefor, and into an appropriation account to be denominated 'Outstanding Liabilities.'"
"SEC. 307. The certificate of the Register of the Treasury stating that the amount of any draft issued by the Treasurer to facilitate the payment of a warrant directed to him for payment has remained outstanding and unpaid for three years or more, and has been deposited and covered into the Treasury in the manner prescribed by the preceding section, shall be, when attached to any such warrant, a sufficient voucher in satisfaction of any such warrant or part of any warrant, the same as if the drafts correctly endorsed and fully satisfied were attached to such warrant or part of warrant. And all such moneys mentioned in this and in the preceding section shall remain as a permanent appropriation for the redemption and payment of all such outstanding and unpaid certificates, drafts and checks."
"SEC. 308. The payee or the bona fide holder of any draft or check, the amount of which has been deposited and covered into the Treasury pursuant to the preceding sections, shall, on presenting the same to the proper officer of the Treasury, be entitled to have it paid by the settlement of an account and the issuing of a warrant in his favor, according to the practice in other cases of authorized and liquidated claims against the United States. "
MR. JUSTICE BREWER, after stating the facts in the foregoing language, delivered the opinion of the Court.
Section 1069, Rev.Stat., is not merely a statute of limitations, but also jurisdictional in its nature, and limiting the cases of which the Court of Claims can take cognizance. Finn v. United States, 123 U. S. 227.
Counsel for the government contend that the claim against the United States first accrued in 1869, when the checks were issued, or, if not then, at least in 1872, when they were lost or destroyed, and therefore, this being twenty-four years before the commencement of this suit, that the claim was barred. If there were nothing to be considered but the single section referred to, it would be difficult to escape this conclusion of counsel.
It is further contended that sections 306, 307, and 308 relate to what is simply a matter of bookkeeping, and do not in any manner change the scope of the liability of the government. But we are of the opinion that they mean something more. While it may be that they do not provide for the creation of an express trust, liability for which, according to general rules, continues until there is a direct repudiation thereof, yet they contain a promise by the government to hold the money thus covered into the Treasury for the benefit of the owner until such time as he shall call for it. This is a continuing promise, and one to which full force and efficacy should be given. If bookkeeping was the only matter sought to be provided for, there were no need of section 308. That prescribes payment, and payment in a particular way. The payee does not simply surrender his check and receive money. But, "on presenting the same to the proper officer," he is "entitled to have it paid by the settlement of an account and the issuing of a warrant in his favor." This may be mere machinery for payment, but it is machinery not used or required until after the money has been "covered into the
Treasury by warrant," and "carried to the credit" of the payee. The right given is the right to surrender the check and receive a warrant on the Treasury. It will also be noticed that the purpose of the act of 1866 was, as expressed in its title, not merely to "facilitate the settlement of the accounts of the Treasurer of the United States," not merely to perfect a system of bookkeeping, but also "to secure certain moneys . . . to persons to whom they are due, and who are entitled to receive the same." And the deposit by the Treasurer is not of a gross amount, to be applied to any claims that may arise, but of the amount due for certain specified checks and drafts. In other words, the purpose of the government by this statute is to secure to each party who holds government paper the amount thereof, to place it in the Treasury to his credit, and to prescribe a method by which whenever he wishes he can obtain it. No time is mentioned within which he must apply for a warrant or after which the money is forfeited to the government. The ordinary rules for the maturity of negotiable paper do not control. Congress has directed that the money already once appropriated and checked against shall be placed in the Treasury and held subject to the call of the party for whose benefit it has been so appropriated and checked. There is no occasion for suit until after his application for a warrant is refused. When the contract created by the promise made in section 308 is broken, then a claim for the breach of such contract first accrues, and the limitation prescribed by section 1069 begins to run. There is thus no conflict with that section. Its full force is not impaired.
In this connection, it may be not amiss to notice those authorities in which it is held that, upon the ordinary deposit of money with a bank, no action will lie until a demand has been made, by check or otherwise, and that hence the statute of limitations will not begin to run until after a refusal to pay on such demand. In Downes v. Phoenix Bank of Charlestown, 6 Hill 297, 300, Bronson, J., delivered the opinion of the court, and, after referring to the ordinary rule that where there is a promise to pay on demand, the bringing of an action is a sufficient demand, and criticizing it as illogical, added:
"The rule ought not to be extended to cases which do not fall precisely within it. Here, the contract to be implied from the usual course of the business is that the banker shall keep the money until it is called for. Although it is not strictly a bailment, it partakes in some degree of that character."
See also Johnson v. Farmers' Bank, 1 Harrington (Del.) 117; Watson v. Phoenix Bank, 8 Met. (Mass.) 217-221.
In Dickinson v. Savings Bank, 152 Mass. 49, it was held that the statute of limitations would not begin to run in favor of the bank and against a depositor until there had been something equivalent to a refusal on the part of the bank to pay or a denial of liability.
In Girard Bank v. Penn Township Bank, 39 Penn.St. 92, 98, 99, the holder of a certified check was the plaintiff, and, the check having been outstanding more than six years, the statute of limitations was pleaded, but the plea was not sustained, the court, by Strong, J., saying, in respect to the case of an ordinary deposit:
"Were this a suit against the Bank of Penn Township by the original depositor, the statute of limitations would be interposed in vain, not so much because a bank is a technical trustee for its depositors as for the reason that the liability assumed by receiving a deposit is to pay when actual demand shall be made. The engagement of a bank with its depositor is not to pay absolutely and immediately, but when payment shall be required at the banking house. It becomes a mere custodian, and is not in default or liable to respond in damages until demand has been made and payment refused. Such are the terms of the contract implied in the transaction of receiving money on deposit, terms necessary alike to the depositor and the banker. And it is only because such is the contract that the bank is not under the obligation of a common debtor to go after its customer and return the deposit wherever he may be found. Hence it follows that no right of action exists, and the statute of limitations does not begin to run, until the demand stipulated for in the contract has been duly made."
And the rule thus announced in respect to ordinary deposits was held to pally in case of a certified check:
"When a check payable to bearer, or order, is presented with a view of its being marked 'Good,' and is so certified, the sum mentioned in it must necessarily cease to stand to the credit of the depositor. It thenceforth passes to the credit of the holder of the check, and is specifically appropriated to pay it when presented, and as the purpose of having it so certified is not to obtain payment, but to continue with the bank the custody of the money, the holder can have no greater rights than those of any other depositor. Certainly he has no right of action until payment has been actually demanded and refused."
In Morse on Banks and Banking, page 40, 2d ed., the author says:
"We have already seen that it is a contract specially modified by the clear legal understanding that the money shall be forthcoming to meet the order of the creditor whenever that order shall be properly presented for payment. It follows, therefore, that this demand for payment is an integral and essential part of the undertaking, it may be said, even of the debt itself. In short, the agreement of the bank with the depositor, as distinct and valid as if written and executed under the seal of each of the parties, is only to pay upon demand. Accordingly, until there has been such demand and a refusal thereto, or until some act of the depositor, or some act of the bank made known to the depositor, has dispensed with such demand and refusal, the statute ought not to begin to run nor should any presumption of payment be allowed to arise."
It is not meant to be asserted that the authorities are unanimous on this question; on the contrary, there is a diversity of opinion. It is sufficient for the purposes of this case to notice that the rule finds support in the decisions of many courts of the highest standing. It is not inconsistent with the proposition laid down by this Court in Marine Bank v. Fulton Bank, 2 Wall. 252, and often reaffirmed; Phoenix Bank v. Risley, 111 U. S. 125, and cases cited in opinion -- to the effect that the relation between a bank and its depositor is that of debtor and creditor, and nothing more, for that proposition throws
no light upon the question when the debt of the debtor becomes due and when the statute of limitations begins to run. Neither is it pretended that the relation of the United States to this petitioner was that of bank and depositor, but the reasoning of the authorities cited strengthens the conclusion that when Congress declared that this money should be covered into the Treasury to the credit of the plaintiff, and that she should, on presentation of the checks to the proper officer of the Treasury, be entitled to a settlement of an account and the issue of a warrant, it was the intention to recognize a continuing obligation -- one which was available to the plaintiff at any time she saw fit; that it was a promise which was not broken until after demand and refusal.
But authority more in point is not wanting to sustain these views. The Direct Tax Act of August 5, 1861, c. 45, 12 Stat. 292, provided in the thirty-sixth section that in case of a sale of real estate, and a surplus remaining after satisfying the tax, costs, etc., such surplus should be paid to the owner, or, if he be not found,
"then such surplus shall be deposited in the Treasury of the United States, to be there held for the use of the owner, or his legal representatives, until he or they shall make application therefor to the Secretary of the Treasury, who, upon such application, shall, by warrant on the Treasury, cause the same to be paid to the applicant."
In United States v. Taylor, 104 U. S. 216, the owner did not apply for the surplus until more than six years had elapsed from the closing up of the sale and the deposit of the money in the Treasury, and it was held that section 1069 did not bar his action, the court observing (p. 104 U. S. 221):
"This section limits no time within which application must be made for the proceeds of the sale. The Secretary of the Treasury was not authorized to fix such a limit. It was his duty, whenever the owner of the land or his legal representatives should apply for the money, to draw a warrant therefor without regard to the period which had elapsed since the sale. The fact that six or any other number of years had passed did not authorize him to refuse payment. The person entitled to the money could allow it to remain in the Treasury for an indefinite
period without losing his right to demand and receive it. It follows that if he was not required to demand it within six years, he was not required to sue for it within that time."
"A construction consistent with good faith on the part of the United States should be given to these statutes. It would certainly not be fair dealing for the government to say to the owner that the surplus proceeds should be held in the Treasury for an indefinite period for his use or that of his legal representatives, and then, upon suit brought to recover them, to plead in bar that the demand therefor had not been made within six years."
"The general rule is that, when a trustee unequivocally repudiates the trust and claims to hold the estate as his own, and such repudiation and claim are brought to the knowledge of the cestui que trust in such manner that he is called upon to assert his rights, the statute of limitations will begin to run against him from the time such knowledge is brought home to him, and not before."
"* * * *"
"In analogy to this rule, the right of the owner of the land to recover the money which the government held for him as his trustee did not become a claim on which suit could be brought, and such as was cognizable by the Court of Claims, until demand therefor had been made at the Treasury. Upon such demand, the claim first accrued."
This was reaffirmed in United States v. Cooper, 120 U. S. 124. Counsel distinguish those cases from this in that there, the money came into the Treasury subject to an express trust created by the act of Congress, which directed that it be there held for the benefit of the owner, while here, in the first instance, there was a written promise by the government -- a promise for which an appropriation had been made and upon which a cause of action existed. But while there is a difference, we do not think it sufficient to create a different rule or measure of liability. There is no new deposit when a check is certified, but, as shown by the opinion in Girard Bank v. Bank of Penn Township, supra, this fact works no change in
the rule. Whether the money to satisfy this liability was paid in by some third party or already held by the Treasurer, whether there was or not any prior liability on the part of the government -- in each case there was a declaration by Congress that the money thus received or covered into the Treasury should there be held for the benefit of and subject to the call of the owner, and no time was specified within which such call must be made. This was a distinct and separate promise, creating a new liability, and the claim accrued when this new liability matured. It matured when the claimant presented her checks, and, calling for warrants, was refused them.
The judgment is | <urn:uuid:858a1296-5b13-46b6-aa8e-1e9005887405> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/172/48/case.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974387 | 4,533 | 1.804688 | 2 |
Last post on Feb 14, 2007 at 9:43 AM
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What is this discussion about?
#27 of 66 Re: patent [wwest]
Feb 07, 2007 (4:28 pm)
Which way does weight shifts during deceleration? How does it help or make things worse? Make a case for FWD and RWD. Then we will get to the point of ABS.
#28 of 66 Re: patent [wwest]
Feb 07, 2007 (5:03 pm)
"Which would you rather, assuming both with automatics, be driving downhill on a slippery roadbed?"
Honestly not sure; 95% of my driving history since 1978 has been with a manual.
However, I've had both a 5.0 Mustang and a Toyota Celica driving downhill on glaze ice (here in central Texas we tend to get freezing rain/sleet rather than nice fluffy snow) and I'll tell you that the Celica (and my previous Hondas) was easier to control.
When headed downhill, braking (whether by mechanical means or through engine compression) causes weight transfer to unload the rear of the vehicle and load the front. Weight = traction. Therefore, weight transfer caused a LOSS of traction at the rear and an increase of traction at the front.
The problem with the Mustang was that IF the rears locked, the rear of the car wants to lead. Swap ends. And locking the rears due to compression braking was pretty easy since you are unloading the wheels being braked.
The Celica on the other hand was much more difficult to induce wheel lockup due to compression braking. The weight transfer would LOAD the front of the vehicle (remember: weight = traction) helping to keep the fronts unlocked.
#29 of 66 Re: patent [rorr]
Feb 07, 2007 (5:29 pm)
My current vehicles are both automatic, and my experiences mirror yours. Slowing/braking downhill on glare ice, the FWD has better control than the RWS. The ABS system on the Impala (05) has no difficulty preventing wheel lockup, while the rear ABS on the truck does not stop the front from locking, and steering is lost with ANY application of brakes under extreme slippery conditions.
I therefore leave a good interval when driving the truck on ice, and slow well in advance, releasing the brakes to reaquire direction when the front slides out of desired path, then braking again as necessary.
Under cruise control conditions, wet pavement gives no problem, and I am not foolish enough to use cruise on ice in either vehicle.
Feb 07, 2007 (5:36 pm)
Thanks for the link rorr.
The amount of regenerative braking that is applied to the wheels (105) of a vehicle (100) is based on ambient temperature and a lift-throttle event. An ambient temperature sensor (108) monitors the temperature around the vehicle. Based on the temperature, a map is selected (204, 212, 214). If a lift-throttle event occurs, then the map is applied (206, 208). Compression regenerative braking is reduced to zero if an anti-lock braking system event occurs or if the throttle is re-applied, or both (216, 218, 220, 222). "
This is obviously different in application from a engine driven FWD vehicle, in that, unlike a piston engine, and eletric motor has no 'idle speed' to resist stopping the wheels. Regenerative braking is greater when rotational speed is higher, but unless turned off (per patent) never stops retarding the wheels until motion ceases.
#31 of 66 Re: patent [oldharry]
Feb 07, 2007 (6:38 pm)
"...never stops retarding the wheels until motion ceases..."
And this is different from..??
Put your FWD automatic transaxle in the 1st gear position, accelerate to, say, 15 MPH. Now take your foot off the gas and tell when you ICE stops retarding the wheels.
#32 of 66 Re: patent [wwest]
Feb 08, 2007 (9:48 am)
Do you want him to lose control and crash?
#33 of 66 Re: patent [robertsmx]
Feb 08, 2007 (10:15 am)
Well no, absolutely NOT..!!
But I suppose I should have added a caution note to not do this test on a low traction surface.
#34 of 66 Re: patent [wwest]
Feb 08, 2007 (12:18 pm)
So when does low traction surface become desirable anyway? Your argument is a FWD will lose control but a RWD will stay planted, doesn't make sense at all. Do you realize that more weight on drive wheels = more traction?
#35 of 66 Re: patent [robertsmx]
Feb 08, 2007 (1:47 pm)
"So when does low traction surface become desirable anyway"
Well, a low traction surface is desireable (to a point) when one starts considering roadbed friction and it's relationship to rolling resistance.
As you know, rolling resistance coupled with air resistance are the big bugaboos when one is attempting to maximize fuel economy. So, while it might be beneficial to tuck in tight behind large trucks to reduce (and possibly eliminate) most air resistance, it is also beneficial to take all reasonable steps to reduce rolling resistance.
The tire/roadbed interface is the prime culprit in rolling resistance. We can take some steps to reduce this by inflating the tires to a high pressure. However, this has it's limitations. One benefit to colder weather (approaching 0deg C) is that the cold temperatures affects the rubber compound in the tires, making the tires harder, and thus further reducing rolling resistance. If you couple this with a slick roadbed surface, you have a combination that can't be beat.
I've found my best hypermiling experiences to occur when tucked 6' off the bumper of semi's with my tires inflated to the maximum sidewall indicated pressures on ice-slickened roadways. Such experiences also give me a great cardiovascular workout without actually exercising (although I usually leave indentations in my steering wheel).
However, I can say that wwest does bring up some valid concerns regarding possible front wheel lockup. However, I've found it to NOT come necessary from lift-throttle conditions (since, as has been pointed out, such conditions cause a weight transfer to the front wheels, increasing traction).
Instead, I've found that sudden engine loads imparted by the AC compressor can bring about front wheel lockup on icy roads; particularly when tucked up tight behind a semi has reduced the aero downforce to the front of the vehicle. This situation seems to be particulary a problem with my Toyota since I have SUCH a problem keeping the windshield properly defogged using the standard defroster settings. I've considered upgrading to a stronger compressor, but the concern over front wheel lockup has precluded me front taking this path.
Perhaps the next innovation to be considered is remapping the AC compressor/clutch engagement software to the OAT sensors to progressively engage as temps approach freezing. Of course, this is just a half measure to address this potentially deadly issue since you still have a system which can unexpectedly impart undesired engine loads to the drive wheels. Perhaps windshield wipers mounted INSIDE the cabin to clear the screen as the OAT approaches freezing is the best solution.
Or maybe not.
#36 of 66 Re: patent [rorr]
Feb 08, 2007 (4:23 pm)
Now I really feel as if my leg is being pulled....
The efficiency of the A/C for helping to prevent windshield condensation and/or help to remove windshield condensation is strictly a function of local climatic conditions.
Throughout most of our world the colder the climate the lower will be the RH, relative humidity. Basically that means that the colder it is where you are trying to use the A/C to help prevent or remove windshield condensation the less likely it is that the will be of any help at all.
The surface temperature of the A/C cooling evaporator will never be driven below ~34F by design. To do so would result in freezing the condensate and eventually blocking all system airflow. So All modern day systems disable the A/C compressor as the OAT declines below ~34F.
What that means to you is that the dewpoint of the incoming fresh airflow must be above 34F in order for any dehumidification of the airflow to happen at all. And that 34F number is under ideal conditions. For instance an extremely low blower speed which will allow the airflow transit time through the cooling evaporator to be long enough for it to be cooled to its dewpoint.
In reality if the OAT is below ~47F, most of the time you may as well have the A/C turned off.
The BEST way to keep your windshield defogged, or remove condensation once it has formed is to HEAT the interior surface of the windshield as much as possible and as quickly as possible.
Turn up the temperature setpoint to maximum, the blower speed should follow, and then switch to defrost/defog/demist mode.
Once the windshield is cleared this method will no doubt begin to discomfort you with all of the heated airflow reflected off the windshield to your face.
Once that happens then turn the blower speed down manually while leaving the heat up and in 3D mode.
I NEVER allow my A/C compressor to operate at any time during the winter months and Lexus has provided two C-best options to facilitate that.
And by the by most newer cars have a variable displacement A/C compressor so the engine load can be varied in a linear way as more or less cooling is required.
Additionally most modern day engine/transaxle control systems, ECUs, will "bump" up the air/fuel mixture feed to the engine just prior to engaging the A/C compressor clutch so that no "drag" on the engine is felt at the drive wheels. | <urn:uuid:b33734b0-70a6-49b7-bee6-d01898a226bb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://townhall-talk.edmunds.com/direct/view/.f117281/26 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941464 | 2,128 | 1.539063 | 2 |
Government announces launch of the Canada-Japan Joint Study toward an Economic Partnership Agreement
(No. 77 - February 23, 2011 - 1:30 p.m. ET) The Honourable Peter Van Loan, Minister of International Trade, today announced the launch of a Joint Study to examine the potential for an Economic Partnership Agreement with Japan. The Minister was joined for the announcement by the Honourable Stockwell Day, President of the Treasury Board and Minister for the Asia-Pacific Gateway.
“The economy remains our government’s number one priority,” said Minister Van Loan. “Our government sees engagement and increased trade with Asia as important drivers of Canada’s long-term prosperity and growth.”
Japan is the world’s third-largest economy and Canada’s largest source of job-creating investment from Asia. It is also Canada’s fourth-largest merchandise export market, with exports totalling almost $9.2 billion in 2010—an increase of more than 10 percent over 2009.
“Under the leadership of Prime Minister Harper, our government’s low-tax plan and free trade agenda is helping to create jobs and growth for Canadian families,” said Minister Day. “As our government continues to focus on economic recovery, we are opening new markets for Canadian workers and businesses, including in the Asia-Pacific region.”
The study will examine the economic impact of an Economic Partnership Agreement and consider its benefits for workers and exporters in both countries.
“With today’s announcement, Japan is taking an important step toward opening markets for the mutual benefit of both our countries,” added Minister Van Loan. “The Japanese recognize the significant economic advantages of increasing trade.”
In less than five years, the Harper government has launched an ambitious trade agenda, opening doors to Canadian business by concluding new free trade agreements with Colombia, Jordan, Panama, Peru and the member states of the European Free Trade Association.
Canadian businesses and workers can compete with the best in the world, confident that the Harper government will continue to pursue an ambitious free trade agenda and entrench economic recovery through freer trade and open markets.
- 30 -
For further information, media representatives may contact:
Office of the Honourable Peter Van Loan
Minister of International Trade
Trade Media Relations Office
Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada | <urn:uuid:48d53919-2324-4414-adce-9880b26b7b00> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.international.gc.ca/media_commerce/comm/news-communiques/2011/077.aspx?lang=eng | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930594 | 490 | 1.523438 | 2 |
- Featured Stories
- Douglas County
- City of Ava
- General Interest
The six portions of Missouri’s firearms deer season are the same length and order as last year, but a few other details, such as area regulations and availability of antlerless tags and, have changed.
JEFFERSON CITY–Missouri’s 2010 fall deer and turkey hunting seasons and regulations are mostly the same as last year. However, unlimited antlerless permits will be available in two additional counties, and regulations at one conservation area have changed to help in surveillance for chronic wasting disease (CWD).
This year’s deer and turkey seasons are:
Archery Deer & Turkey Season
Sept. 15-Nov. 12 and Nov. 24-Jan. 15
Firearms Deer Season
Urban Zone portion – Oct, 8-11
Early youth portion – Oct. 30-31
November portion – Nov. 13-23
Antlerless portion – Nov. 24-Dec. 5
Muzzleloader portion – Dec. 18-28
Late youth portion – Jan. 1-2
Fall Firearms Turkey Season –
Hunters can use as many antlerless deer tags as they want in Gasconade and Osage counties this year. Gasconade and Osage counties also are open to hunting during the antlerless portion of firearms deer season this year.
Hunters may use unlimited antlerless tags in 69 counties and parts of three others this year. These are shown on a map on page 23 of the 2010 Fall Deer and Turkey Hunting Regulations and Information booklet, which is available from hunting permit vendors statewide.
Hunters can use atlatls to hunt deer for the first time this year. This method, which has been allowed for taking small game and fish since 2007, can now be used during all portions of the firearms deer season except the muzzleloader portion.
Missouri’s four-point antler restriction is in effect in all of 65 counties and the portions of Cass, Franklin, and Jefferson counties not included in the Urban Deer Zones. Details of this rule are found on pages 4 and 5 of the fall deer and turkey hunting booklet. The four-point rule does not apply during the early and late youth portions of firearms deer season.
Other changes in this year’s regulations include opening hunting at Mussel Fork Conservation Area in Linn and Macon counties to hunting under statewide regulations. The Conservation Commission made this change in response to the discovery of chronic wasting disease (CWD) in an adjacent high-fence hunting operation. Allowing hunters to take deer for testing in this area is desirable, and reducing the deer population there also is an appropriate CWD management strategy.
The Conservation Department will conduct a voluntary CWD surveillance effort in Chariton, Linn and Macon counties and parts of Adair, Randolph and Sullivan counties. Hunters in this area are encouraged to take their deer to collection sites during opening weekend of the November portion of firearms deer season. Tissue sampling will not reduce the food or taxidermy value of deer. A special section on page 3 of the fall deer and turkey booklet shows the boundaries of this area and locations where hunters can bring deer for testing.
Hunters who transport deer, elk or moose with the spinal cord or head attached must report the carcasses’ entry into Missouri by calling 877-853-5665 within 24 hours of entering Missouri. Carcasses must be taken to a licensed meat processor or taxidermist within 72 hours of entry into Missouri. Meat processors and taxidermists must dispose of the spinal cord and other parts in a properly permitted landfill.
Changes in regulations on other areas also are detailed on pages 34 through 42 of the fall deer and turkey hunting booklet. | <urn:uuid:e89d1d4b-86f8-4b46-a5a2-5a50a7d1ec9a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://douglascountyherald.com/2010/07/08/area-regulations-antlerless-tag-availability-change-for-2010-deer-season/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933638 | 776 | 1.796875 | 2 |
Syrians chant anti-Bashar al-Assad slogans during a protest in front of the Syrian embassy in Amman on Friday. AP/PTI
feature of the Syrian crisis, which must please those ostensibly seeking the regime's ouster, is that it is turning out to be a long drawn one. So long drawn, in fact, that the world is beginning to develop an amnesia about the Palestinian issue. This must be a happy enough state of affairs for some. It certainly provides respite, a digression with a potential to keep attention away from embarrassing themes even as the puppeteers improvise one crisis after another.
There are now journalists, ferried into Syria by reliable smugglers, testifying to "cross-border terrorism" from Turkey, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon into Syria. The "brutal" Syrian response makes headlines, but "cross-border terrorism" does not. The expression should be in New Delhi's recollection at least.
Governments are sometimes secretive and muffle their responses. But cross-border terrorism does not echo even with the Indian media and those who imagine they trigger public discourse. Debate rages in the United States whether assassinating Iranian scientists serves a useful purpose. But the intelligentsia in this mother of civilisations expresses no astonishment that the ethical dimension, whether organising assassination of scientists is right or wrong, is nowhere in the discourse. Is this state of affairs an improvement on Anthony Trollope's description of a Tasmanian settler, who, when asked whom he would kill first if he saw a snake and an aborigine, replied with stunning candour, "The question should not arise"?
Already, the Syrian story has had many shocking twists. The Arab League sends a mission to Syria, but its report is turned down because the "Sudanese" head of the mission is too "balanced" between state brutality and the protesters' violence. That Al Qaeda and Taliban operatives from Libya, Afghanistan and Pakistan have found their way into Syria has been reported even in the West. But Taliban from Qatar? Is Qatar, a hub for a dialogue with the Taliban, also beginning to double up as a recruitment centre for Syrian operations? If so, these operations have the blessings from the highest Al Qaeda authority, Ayman al Zawahiri.
In other words, the US, Europe, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Qatar are openly in Al Qaeda's company in Syria. Launch a global war on terror in Afghanistan and Pakistan and set up Al Qaeda in new theatres like Libya and Syria! I suppose, the global war on terror will be redirected to these theatres once Afghanistan and Pakistan have been cleansed – a sort of second phase in a two-stroke operation.
Bana kar mitana
Mita kar banana
(Build, destroy, build again).
Meanwhile, the Syrian game has been immeasurably complicated by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's visit to Damascus along with Russian intelligence personnel. Photographic proof has been compared of all the outside build-up of violent dissent inside Syria.
Evidently, Bashar al Assad has been given a fortnight within which to "clean up" such centres of rebellion as Homs, not far from the Lebanese border.
spionage related diplomacy is proceeding parallel to the Homs operations. For example, the rebels captured nine Iranian pilgrims taking the land route through Aleppo to Hama and onto the Zainab shrine, in Damascus. At about the same time, the Syrian Army arrested 49 Turkish soldiers. Ankara asked Tehran to arrange for their release. Turkish Foreign Minister, Ahmet Davutoglu rushed to Moscow for help. To facilitate a swap, the free Syrian army (a rebel outfit) released the Iranian pilgrims on the Turkish side of the border. The pilgrims have returned to Tehran.
An infinitely more serious situation has arisen in a part of Homs where foreign mercenaries and special forces are surrounded by the Syrian Army. Rather than bomb the Baba Amro area, the Syrian strategy is to capture the foreigners alive and turn the tables on the western media war. A clue to the veracity of this story came from French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe who is seeking Russian help to create "humanitarian corridors" to allow access to "civilians caught up in the violence". In fact, an effort is on to have the "corridors" idea included in a new Security Council Resolution the West is trying to rope the Russians into.
The Syrians, meanwhile, are keeping their eyes on the clock and hastening slowly towards tightening the cordon on the Baba Amro locality in Homs. As further good news for them, Jordanian sources confirm the arrest by the Jordanian Army of seven terrorists crossing into Syria. | <urn:uuid:bd05d869-90f5-49b2-ad43-b8df1d8262c3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://margotbworldnews.com/News/Feb/Feb20/Asaad.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948165 | 957 | 1.710938 | 2 |
: Santa CruzZip
: Free Skool Santa Cruz is an interactive, decentralized model for learning - without the limitations of hierarchy and the sterile institutional environment of a University or formal school. It is an attempt to de-school ourselves and to learn from one another the skills necessary to transform society and challenge oppressive systems.
In addition to discussions, events, and classes, Free Skool Santa Cruz has a strong focus on skills. It's a skillsharing network aimed to generalize skills and confidence. We seek to provide an environment that inspires individuals and facilitates the exchanging of tools they need to create their lives on their own terms. We aim to offer a network that supports peoples capacity to live more autonomously and build communities that are not limited by the constrains of outside (or inside) institutions.
In an increasingly complex world, with people specialized into specific and limited positions of employment and activity, we remain largely dependent on a social order destined to self destruct while our lives are becoming increasingly monitored and controlled. We aim to give people skills not just to survive within the institutional framework imposed but to thrive without and beyond it.
Who Are We?
Free Skool is a completely grassroots effort, a collection of folks who decided to act collectively and autonomously to create a skill-sharing network, a school without institutional control. It is your opportunity to learn from others and share what you know, to help create self-reliance, vital communities, and beauty in the world. If you are willing to learn, teach, or help organize Free Skool, then the short answer is you.
We are all students and we are all teachers.Contact info
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Passing the Baton:
Ownership Transfer Strategies,
Estate Planning Go Hand-in-Hand
By Mike Henning
You can beat Uncle Sam's tax machine if you come up with a workable plan. The sooner you do, the greater the tax savings will be.
With few exceptions, transferring the control or ownership of your property will be the single most important lifetime transaction for your family. The dollars involved are great, and eventually they must be divided among family members. Some of the family members actively participate in the business and some do not. As the owner, you confront a seemingly unsolvable set of problems. When and where do you begin? Have you already done enough? Do your plans meet your objectives and are they emotionally sound for your family?
The good news is that you can beat Uncle Sam's tax machine if you translate your family objectives and the applicable tax law into a workable plan. The sooner you do, the greater the tax savings will be.
Asset Transfer Methods
and Tax Planning
In this article we will discuss five basic strategies for transferring ownership of a family business:
- Sale of Stock. Selling corporation stock by the owner to another family member is a no-no! Why do some families do it anyway? It is quick, easy and cheap (initially). So why not? The tax consequences make this method prohibitive. Why? The selling family member must pay 15 percent capital gains tax on the profit and the buyer must use after-tax dollars to make the payments. These are not deductible.
- Future growth in the stock is transferred to the heir.
- The heir gets a stepped-up basis for the stock.
- The portion of the gain realized each year will be subject to an immediate tax.
- If the parent dies before receiving full payment of the installment obligations, they will be included in his/her estate for tax purposes.
- Stock Redemption. A stock redemption occurs when a corporation uses its property (money, securities, property) to repurchase from a selling shareholder all of the outstanding shares owned by that individual. Tax treatment is the vital question here. Will the gain be treated as a dividend or capital gain? The difference is 100 percent of a dividend to the extent of retained earnings is subject to tax.
On the other hand, a capital gain is tax free for the full amount of the tax basis of the stock. If the redemption qualifies as a sale or exchange, the excess of the proceeds over the taxpayer's basis is a capital gain (15 percent taxation). If the redemption does not qualify, the entire amount of the proceeds is a dividend (taxed as ordinary income). To ensure capital gain treatment, you must make a complete redemption of the stock to the corporation and make it substantially disproportionate.
- Sale of Assets. If you want to turn fixed assets to cash, control your income, eliminate estate taxes, guard against inflation, retain future income from real estate and maintain some control, then the asset sale - or sidewise sale - is the ticket for you.
- Financing. The bank/lending institution provides the new corporation with a loan to acquire the assets from the older corporation.
- Parent's Role After the Sale. You become a property manager and a collection agency.
- Liquidation of the Old Corporation. Gain from the sale of assets and recapture of depreciation could be taxed at a maximum corporate rate of 39 percent. As an option, income can be drawn out as compensation.
- Gifting Stock in the Business. Sometimes an annual gift program can totally transfer ownership and control of a family corporation. The primary advantage is its true simplicity. In some cases, a gifting program can accomplish all the family's objectives. For example, if you currently gift stock to active family members, you can provide the same opportunity for younger children who may enter the business later. Your gifting program could have a different timing sequence - you could put the stock in a voting trust, or you could provide an option for those children to enter the business at a later date.
Basic Rules for Gifting Stock: Current estate and gift tax laws provide parents an opportunity to give $11,000 per child annually without filing a gift tax return or paying any gift taxes. Additionally, during your life you and your spouse can give another $1 million each ($2 million total) without taxation.
- Offsetting Sales Strategy (counter payment). If the parents are asking a higher price for the company than the book value or adjusted book value, or if real estate is included, then an offset sale strategy should be considered. Essentially, the actual sale of the business assets or stock is based on a third party valuation and appraisal. The excess dollars are made up in retirement benefits, compensation plans, defined benefit plan, non-qualified plan, consulting agreement or a noncompetition agreement.
Overall, the deductions for the heir/buyer can make the transaction more affordable. Due to prefunding of certain benefit programs and tax deduction of portions, the overall tax savings will range from 15 percent to 30 percent. There is basically no difference for the parents/sellers whether the transaction is deductible or nondeductible to the business.
Editor's note: This article is one of several management articles that will be contributed to AutoInc. this year by Automotive Management Institute (AMI) instructors. To learn more about AMI, its courses and instructors, visit www.AMIonline.org.
Michael G. "Mike" Henning is an Automotive Management Institute instructor. He is the founder and president of the Henning Family Business Center, a management and consulting firm specializing in business growth, change and future leadership headquartered in Effingham, Ill. His e-mail address is firstname.lastname@example.org, and he may also be contacted by phone at (217) 342-3728.
||MOST ACCESSED ARTICLES
MOST E-MAILED ARTICLES | <urn:uuid:7c2741d2-3930-494c-bf03-5988cab69b0f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.autoinc.org/archives/2006/nov2006/manage.cfm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933852 | 1,221 | 1.578125 | 2 |
- Self-described “antiracist essayist”
- Views the United States as a nation rife with white racism
- Lectures across the United States about the need to “combat institutional racism, gender bias, and the growing gap between rich and poor in the U.S.”
Tim Wise is a self-described “antiracist essayist” whose
career is devoted to condemning the “white racism” and “white privilege”
which, in his view, infest America. He also serves as a Board of Advisors member for Grassroots International.
was born in Nashville, Tennessee in October 1968. He attended Tulane
University, where he served as a leader of the campus’ anti-apartheid
movement, pressuring the school to divest its assets from U.S. companies
that conducted any business with the South African government. When
Tulane failed to comply, Wise in 1988 persuaded Archbishop Desmond Tutu
to turn down an honorary degree which the university was planning to
award him. Wise graduated in 1990 with a B.A. in Political Science and a
minor in Latin American Studies.
In the early 1990s, Wise
received training as an antiracist activist from the New Orleans-based
People's Institute for Survival and Beyond (PISB). Challenging its
trainees “to analyze the structures of power and privilege that hinder social equity,” PISB contends that racism “is the single most critical barrier to building effective coalitions for social change.”
first job in the field came as the youth coordinator for the Louisiana
Coalition Against Racism and Nazism, which was originally founded to
help defeat the political ambitions of Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard, David
Duke. From 1999 to 2003, Wise served as an advisor to the Fisk
University Race Relations Institute.
In January 2002, Wise endorsed War Times,
an anti-Iraq War newspaper produced by a group of San Francisco
leftists, most of whom were affiliated with the radical organizations STORM and the Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism (CCDS). At a CCDS national convention six months later, Wise spoke on the topic os "Racism in the Present Era."
Though he held no graduate degree of any kind, in 2005 Wise served as an
adjunct faculty member at the Smith College School for Social Work,
where he co-taught a Master's-level class on racism in the United States.
is the founder and director of the Association for White Anti-Racist
Education (AWARE). Based in Brentwood, Tennessee, AWARE’s mission
is “to educate white Americans about ongoing institutional racism in
society; to raise awareness among whites to the harmful effects racism
has on people of color and themselves; and to provide the tools for
whites to support equity and justice.”
Wise has parlayed his
racial angst into a speaking career that has included stops at more than
350 college campuses across the United States, where he lectures about
the need to “combat institutional racism, gender bias, and the growing
gap between rich and poor in the U.S.” Viewing America as a nation
overrun by white racists ever-eager to ambush blacks and other
minorities, Wise defines the American experience as an exercise in white
privilege which can be countered only by an enlightened vanguard of
antiracist whites such as himself.
Regularly posting his columns and opinion pieces on Z-Mag,
Wise claims that the ever-increasing prosperity of the black middle
class since the 1980s is essentially a meaningless statistical trick,
and that blacks should receive preferential treatment in employment and
Wise charges that U.S. troops in Iraq are in violation
of Article 54 of the Geneva Convention, by which “[i]t is prohibited to
attack, destroy, remove or render useless objects indispensable to the
survival of the civilian population,” such as food, water, or livestock.
has made evident his rabid anti-Catholicism, manifest in sardonic
criticisms of the pope, of the Church’s position on abortion, and of the
pedophilia scandal that rocked the Church.
Wise has compared America’s founding fathers to the Mujahadeen of Afghanistan
is an incessant critic of Israel, which he views as a racist colonizer
of Palestine; he alleges that Israel’s possession of nuclear weapons
should be considered no more acceptable than the potential acquisition
of such an arsenal by the mullahs of Iran.
capitalism; he finds the U.S. prison system racist; he urges a complete
overhaul of the criminal-justice system; and he advocates reparations
not only to the descendants of slaves, but to all “people of color.”
Preceding the 2004 presidential election, Wise was a signatory to “Bush Can Be Stopped: A Letter to the Left,”
which aimed to prevent the re-election of George W. Bush. The letter
also appealed for public support for such organizations as MoveOn, U.S. Labor Against War, United for Peace and Justice, and Win Without War. Wise's fellow signers included Leslie Cagan, Noam Chomsky, Angela Davis, Carl Davidson, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Manning Marable, Robert Meeropol, Michael Ratner, and Pete Seeger.
Wise characterized the American government’s allegedly slow response to Hurricane Katrina, which devastated the heavily black city of New Orleans in 2005, as follows:
“...[I]n the wake of Hurricane Katrina, government at all levels and across party lines
has engaged in ethnic cleansing in New Orleans, failing to provide
rental assistance to the mostly black tenant base for over a year,
plotting to tear down 5,000 perfectly usable units of public housing,
failing to restart the city's public health care infrastructure, and
even ordering the Red Cross not to provide relief in the first few days
after the city flooded in September 2005, so as to force evacuation and
empty out the city …”
In 2008, Wise maintained that the nomination of Senator Barack Obama as the Democrat
presidential candidate could not be interpreted as evidence that
America had become a land of opportunity for blacks as well as whites.
Rather, pointing to the fact that Obama had largely avoided focusing on
race-related issues in his campaign, Wise concluded that racism was in
fact more prevalent than ever. In a March 2008 essay titled “Uh-Obama:
Racism, White Voters and the Myth of Color-Blindness,” Wise wrote:
“Surely, that Obama is constrained in his ability to focus any real
attention on these matters, suggests that whatever his success may say
about America and race, one thing it utterly fails to say is that we
have conquered the racial demons that have so long bedeviled us. And to
the extent he must remain relatively silent about these issues, lest he
find his political ascent headed in a decidedly different direction, it
is true, however ironic, that his success actually confirms the
salience of white power. If, in order to be elected, a man of color has
to pander to white folks, in ways that no white politician would ever
have to do to people who were black or brown, then white privilege and
white power remain operative realities ... His success, far from
disproving white power and privilege, confirms it with a vengeance.”
In an October 11, 2008 blog entry, Wise warned that an age of fascism would arise if Republican candidate John McCain were to be elected President in the upcoming election. Wrote Wise:
In 2009, Wise was affiliated with Progressives for Obama, which later changed its name to Progressive America Rising.
“If fascism comes, it will spring from the soil of middle America,
from people known as values voters but whose values are toxic, from
simple folk whose simplicity, far from being admirable, is better
labeled ignorance, from ‘all-American’ types whose patriotism is a
dagger pointed at the very heart of the national interest ... If fascism
comes, it will be ushered in by tailgaters at the big football game, by
Joe Six Pack ... If fascism comes it will dress like a hockey mom, or a
NASCAR dad ... If fascism comes it will have a pajama party at Ann
Coulter's house, pop pills with Rush Limbaugh, and go gay-bashing with
Michael Savage, all in the same weekend.”
Wise is the author of three books: White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son (2005); Affirmative Action: Racial Preference in Black and White (2005); and Speaking Treason Fluently: Anti-Racist Reflections From an Angry White Male (2008). He has also contributed to an anthology titled White Privilege: Essential Readings on the Other Side of Racism (2001).
Wise received the 2001 British Diversity Award and the 2002 National Youth Advocacy Coalition’s Social Justice Impact Award. Michael Eric Dyson has called him “one of the most brilliant, articulate and courageous critics of white privilege in the nation.” | <urn:uuid:eacf8a19-bffb-4ada-a90f-f71bf3815730> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=1874 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949989 | 1,972 | 1.6875 | 2 |
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Shell Oil Co. has chosen a site near Pittsburgh for a major, multi-billion-dollar petrochemical refinery that could provide a huge economic boost to the region.
Dan Carlson, Shell's General Manager of New Business Development, said Thursday that the company signed a land option agreement with Horsehead Corp. to evaluate a site near Monaca, about 35 miles northwest of Pittsburgh.
Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania had all sought the plant and offered Shell major tax incentives. Monaca is about 15 miles from both the Ohio and West Virginia borders, so workers in all three states are likely to benefit.
Shell has said that it could spend several billion dollars to build the plant, and that the complex would attract a wide range of industry and suppliers to nearby locations. But actual construction is still years away. The company said the next steps are environmental and design studies and further economic analysis, then permits.
One lifelong resident of the Pennsylvania township almost broke down on hearing the news.
"Oh my God. It makes me want to cry. That's just the best news," said Christie Floyd-Gabel, Potter Township's secretary.
It's also an unexpected turn for Horsehead's zinc factory, which is located on the banks of the Ohio River. In September the company announced plans to shut the Monaca smelter plant by 2013 and relocate to North Carolina, along with most of its 600 workers.
"That was a major loss," Floyd-Gabel said of Horsehead's plans to depart, adding that's it's amazing that another major corporation may come in to replace Horsehead.
Ali Alavi, a Horsehead spokesman, said the company would have to vacate the factory site by April 30, 2014, under the terms of the option agreement with Shell.
Shell said the Horsehead site had the mix of resource and transportation attributes "to accommodate facilities for a world scale petrochemical complex and potential future expansions."
The so-called ethylene cracker plant would convert natural gas liquids into other, more profitable chemicals, which then go into everything from plastics to tires to antifreeze.
Shell would be able to supply the plant partly with gas from its own wells, giving it more control over supply and costs. The company paid $4.7 billion in 2010 for drilling rights to about 650,000 acres in the region.
Shell's choice may also represent an indication of just how strongly the industry feels about the vast gas reserves in nearby underground shale rock formations, given the multi-billion dollar commitments it has made. Carlson told The Associated Press that any plant must be economically competitive with existing plants in Louisiana and Texas, and even with international plants.
The Marcellus Shale, which lies thousands of feet underground, has attracted a rush of major oil companies, who have drilled almost 5,000 new wells in the last five years. The Marcellus covers large parts of Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio and West Virginia, and drillers have also started to tap the adjacent, deeper Utica Shale formation.
Ohio and West Virginia officials had made all-out efforts to attract the plant. Last year West Virginia Commerce Secretary Keith Burdette said, "We intend to compete with the last breath in our body to attract one or more crackers," and both West Virginia's and Ohio's governor flew to Houston to meet with Shell officials.
West Virginia offered to slash property tax rates for 25 years in exchange of at least $2 billion worth of investment, Pennsylvania offered 15 years of tax breaks, while Ohio also reportedly courted Shell with major incentives.
The American Chemistry Council, in a report last year, estimated the new petrochemical complex could attract up to $16 billion in private investment and create thousands of construction jobs.
Several other companies are also reportedly considering building similar plants in the region. | <urn:uuid:8cd5917b-4f5c-48c8-a647-759f0fe1572e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.the-review.com/ap%20financial/2012/03/15/pittsburgh-area-site-is-chosen-for-major-refinery-1331835974 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963989 | 790 | 1.742188 | 2 |
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Put your club online
9:19am Thursday 9th October 2008 in Your Say
Everything from your local knitting club to charities, childcare nurseries to yoga classes in Trafford can now be found at a click of a button. A new online database listing hundreds of community groups has been launched at www.trafford.gov.uk/communitygroups. Local groups can raise their profile and reach a wider audience by promoting their presence on the internet, through Trafford Council's new online community database. As well as providing key information about the group such as meeting times, venues and contact details the facility can be used to recruit volunteers, available 24 hours a day from any location with access to the internet. Visit www.trafford.gov.uk/communitygroups if you want to add your organisation to the database. If you don't have your own internet you can access it for free at any Trafford library. Just ask a member of staff for details.
Action for Sustainable Living, in partnership with Trafford Council, is hosting a Natural Products Event, on 14 October, from 6:30-8:30pm. The event will be held at Victoria Park Infants School, Henshaw Street, Stretford. There will be information about the benefits to the environment and our own health by stopping the use of chemical products in our homes. There will be workshops showcasing natural products and visitors will also get the chance to find out how to make their own soap and cleaning materials from simple ingredients which can be found around the house. Visit www.afsl.org.uk to find out more about action for sustainable living. | <urn:uuid:6c080c89-7bc1-4378-95ff-3a43e4f002e8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.messengernewspapers.co.uk/yoursay/yourblogs/traffordblog/3741281.Put_your_club_online/?ref=rss | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934248 | 348 | 1.65625 | 2 |
Got a locked gate? When CPS Energy employees can’t get to your meter, there’s a chance its employees will use binoculars to get the numbers off your meter.
No joke. We at Clocking In just learned this from a CPS honcho, who said that occasionally CPS puts on a demo showing how adept its meter readers are at doing this.
We inquired about meter-reading after a caller complained that her June bill was way up. In the caller’s case, the meter readers couldn’t get past her gate and couldn’t use binoculars to read the meter. AS a result, the customer got socked with a higher bill in June than normal because when CPS was able to read the meter, it had underestimated the kilowatt hours she’d used. On top of that, June was really hot, so bills were up anyway. | <urn:uuid:66e3cad8-7069-48e4-a830-2bae3f913256> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.mysanantonio.com/clockingin/2008/07/cps-energy-employees-scope-out-meters/?gta=commentlistpos | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975745 | 186 | 1.523438 | 2 |
I remember a time when her column would be the first item of the newspaper I would read. There were many occasions when it was the only thing I found interesting.
"Twins Esther Pauline Friedman [Lederer] and Pauline Esther Friedman [Phillips]"
Esther Pauline Friedman came into this world 17 minutes before her sister Pauline Esther Friedman. The identical twins dressed alike, took the same classes, even shared the same purse with one set of keys, one comb, and one lipstick. They slept in the same twin bed. The first time they were separated, in fact, was after their double wedding.
The middle-aged Esther Pauline hooked a job replacing the original Ann Landers at the Chicago Sun-Times
. Two months later, Pauline Esther started her own column with the San Francisco Chronicle
, calling herself Abigail Van Buren. Ann sniffed to Time that her sister Abby's column was "very imitative." The feud was on. For eight years, the two women who dispense advice to thousands could not resolve a petty family squabble.
Finally, the two were partially reconciled. They told journalists that they were "very close." Yet bitter feelings lived on. Seventeen years after making up, Abby said about Ann, "If she looked old, if she needed a face lift, believe me, it's because she needed it. I'm quite opposed to chopping myself up, but it was her right. Why not? When you cry a lot, it's got to show."
http://www.geocities.com/josephkingofdr ... ssons.html
Jules W. Lederer: founder of Budget Rent-a-Car; former husband of "Eppie" (aka advice columnist Ann Landers (Esther Pauline Friedman)
Source: Caskets On Parade ... Book of the Dead
Here are some more Ann Lander's quotes found attributed to her on the Internet.
If you want to catch trout, don't fish in a herring barrel.
Rose-colored glasses are never made in bifocals. Nobody wants to read the small print in dreams.
There are really only three types of people: those who make things happen, those who watch things happen, and those who say, "What happened?"
Nobody ever drowned in his own sweat.
Bragging is not an attractive trait, but let's be honest. A man who catches a big fish doesn't go home through an alley.
The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good.
Don't accept your dog's admiration as conclusive evidence that you are wonderful.
"If I were asked to give what I consider the single most useful bit of advice for all humanity, it would be this: Expect trouble as an inevitable part of life, and when it comes, hold your head high. Look it squarely in the eye, and say, "I will be bigger than you. You cannot defeat me."
"Nobody gets to live life backwards. Look ahead -- that's where your future lies."
"Class has a sense of humor. It knows that a good laugh is the best lubricant for oiling the machinery of human relations. Class never makes excuses. It takes its lumps and learns from past mistakes. Class bespeaks an aristocracy unrelated to ancestors or money. Some extremely wealthy people have no class at all, while others who are struggling to make ends meet are loaded with it. Class is real. You can't fake it. Class never tries to build itself up by tearing others down. Class is already up and need not attempt to look better by making others look worse. Everyone is comfortable with the person who has class because he is comfortable with himself. If you have class, you've got it made. If you don't have class, no matter what else you have, it won't make up for it."
"The best way to find something you have lost is to buy a replacement."
"The poor wish to be rich, the rich wish to be happy, the single wish to be married, and the married wish to be dead."
"If you have love in your life it can make up for a great many things you lack. If you don't have it, no matter what else there is, it's not enough."
"Maturity is the ability to do a job whether or not you are supervised, to carry money without spending it and to bear an injustice without wanting to get even."
[I advise keeping] four feet on the floor and all hands on deck.
~From pamphlet “Teenage Sex and Ten Ways to Cool It,” quoted in Newsweek 28 Jan 85
I was naive, but I certainly was not duplicitous.
~On recycling her advice columns, Time 17 May 82
All married couples should learn the art of battle as they should learn the art of making love. Good battle is objective and honest--never vicious or cruel. Good battle is healthy and constructive, and brings to a marriage the principle of equal partnership. [Ann Landers Says Truth Is Stranger..., 1968]
"An open marriage is natures way of telling you that you need a divorce." | <urn:uuid:9479a4d6-5028-4ef2-8bc0-096620d90899> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.quotationspage.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=131 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970916 | 1,081 | 1.515625 | 2 |
Grazier statue plaque to be restored
The memorial plaque on the statue
commemorating the sacrifice of Tamworth war hero Colin Grazier is
to be removed for restoration.
The three anchors memorial in St Editha’s
Square was last year given a new coat of hard-wearing, long-lasting
paint, thanks to the generosity of an anonymous donor.
Now the plaque, which details the courage of
Able Seaman Colin Grazier, Lt Anthony Fasson and Tommy Brown in
retrieving vital Enigma codebooks from a sinking German U-boat, is
to also undergo restoration.
Tamworth artist Louise Blake will carefully
paint the raised letters on the plaque to highlight them, making
the plaque much easier to read.
The work is likely to take a couple of weeks
to complete and the plaque will be returned to the memorial as soon
as it is finished – in plenty of time for the 70 th
anniversary of Colin Grazier’s heroic actions on October 30.
The memorial was put up in 2002 to honour Able
Seaman Colin Grazier from Two Gates. The 22-year-old sailor was
serving on HMS Petard when in October 1942, he and fellow seaman Lt
Anthony Fasson died retrieving vital German codebooks from a
sinking U-boat in the Mediterranean. The third sailor, Tommy
Brown, survived the war, only to die in a house fire while
still a teenager.
It was the precious documents they seized
which enabled Bletchley Park’s code breakers to crack the Enigma
codes and so win the Battle of the Atlantic. It is believed that
the bravery of the three men – each commemorated with an anchor on
the statue - helped shorten the Second World War by two years. Both
Colin Grazier and Anthony Fasson were posthumously awarded the
The plaque will be removed from the memorial
at the end of this month. | <urn:uuid:d6ed3efb-dc77-484b-bd14-a3751d92e5f9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.tamworth.gov.uk/council_and_democracy/council_news/latest_headline/grazier_statue_restoration.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937234 | 422 | 1.796875 | 2 |
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June's Community Cinema film is Love Free or Die. This film is about a man whose two defining passions much of the world cannot reconcile: his love for God and for his partner Mark. It is about church and state, love and marriage, faith and identity — and one man's struggle to dispel the notion that God's love has limits.
Gene Robinson was the first openly gay person to be elected bishop in the high church traditions of Christendom. Bishop Robinson's elevation in the sleepy New Hampshire diocese in 2003 ignited a worldwide firestorm in the Anglican Communion, one that has become so heated that there is still a chance of a schism. One year after being muzzled by the Archbishop of Canterbury, he finds himself speaking from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial at Barack Obama's Inauguration. Gene Robinson confronts those who use religion as an instrument of oppression, and claims a place in the church and society, not just for LGBT people, but for everyone.
Community Cinema is a free monthly screening series presents fascinating documentaries from the Emmy-Award winning PBS series Independent Lens followed by lively discussions that connect films to local organizations and resources. Films are shown from September to June every second Saturday of the month at 11am. | <urn:uuid:98347a9e-3903-41bd-8d70-109236f47667> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.eventbrite.com/event/5280468022/eorg | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966345 | 276 | 1.734375 | 2 |
The move opens thousands of jobs to female troops.
The new policy comes after an election in which Democrats crushed Republicans among female voters.
The Pentagon on Wednesday moved to lift its ban on women in combat roles. Here are military photos of U.S. servicewomen in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Move will open thousands of previously closed jobs.
Dozens of theaters will be shut down because of the cost of converting to digital projection.
More than 5,000 service members from each branch will be represented in Inauguration festivities.
Suicides in the U.S. military surged to a record 349 last year, far exceeding American combat deaths in Afghanistan, and some private experts are predicting the dark trend will worsen this year.
The president says he will outline plans for the continued drawdown of troop levels.
A military judge rules that the Army private suffered illegal pretrial punishment in a Marine Corps brig.
The president and the first lady drop in at a Marine Corps mess hall on Christmas Day.
Opinion: Lawmakers should include the strongest language possible against this abhorrent behavior.
"North Korea is only further isolating itself by engaging in such provocative acts," Tommy Vietor says.
The newly elected lawmaker is eager to play a key role in defense and veterans issues.
Shaheen said it was only fair that the rules for federal employees cover the women of the military.
Opinion: There is lots more to write and say about Petraeus, and the debate should continue.
A new process to open up addresses on the Internet spurs 250 complaints from around the world.
In Washington to promote global aid, he couldn't resist commenting on the scandal.
The lawsuits range from indebtedness to foreclosure cases
Photos from Veterans Day observances around the world, along with related celebrations marking the conclusion of World War I.
Army intelligence analyst offers to admit to lesser offenses | <urn:uuid:af69b019-2402-4061-a2e4-0a86b5a9ffcc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://dyn.politico.com/tag/?tag=Military¤tPage=4 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950797 | 389 | 1.507813 | 2 |
I was using HP Dv9000. It has got a Nvidia 7600 go 256 mb.
The graphics card one day got faulty and started giving horizontal lines at the bios level and windows was not booting and giving blue error screen. However I was able to logon to windows in safe mode.
I'm positive that it got faulty because of overheating.
Now, I am replacing the motherboard and as I opened the laptops, I found that there was no cooling gel sticking to the GPU chip or the heat sink of the chip.
I want to know that If i put some gel at the new motherboards chip, will it be okay. I mean that can all chips support cooling gel. Are these gels conductors or non conductors of Electricity?
Please I need a quick response as my laptop is still open. | <urn:uuid:95de5a7a-dab6-44b8-a6e6-1cbba433ba98> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hardwarecentral.com/showthread.php?181024-Abit-mobo-can-I-just-take-out-my-dying-Northbridge-fan&goto=nextnewest | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965993 | 172 | 1.734375 | 2 |
February 6, 2012 | 48 comments
April 20, 2011 | 28 comments
February 4, 2011 | 47 comments
September 30, 2010 | 55 comments
December 22, 2005 | 1 comment
Signature in the Cell is a defining work in the discussion of life’s origins.
Signature in the Cell: DNA and the Evidence for Intelligent
By Stephen C. Meyer
(HarperOne, 611 pages, $28.99)
WHEN I LEARNED THAT Dr. Stephen Meyer had written a new book on the evidence of design displayed in living cells, I expected to be impressed by it. I wasn’t prepared to have my mind blown—which is what happened.
In Signature in the Cell, Meyer marshals the scientific facts and arguments to show that the staggering quantity of information contained in the “computer code” of our cellular DNA almost certainly cannot have been generated by undirected material processes. Instead, Meyer contends, in our combined human experience the kind of complex, functionally specified information that is present in living cells is known to be produced by only one source: an intelligent, purposeful mind. The implications of that thesis are enormous, and the scientific arguments Meyer presents for it are compelling.
As Director of the Center for Science and Culture at the Discovery Institute, Meyer is a principal architect and advocate of the intelligent design (ID) movement. After gaining altitude for a number of years, intelligent design exploded into the national consciousness in 2004 and 2005 like a starburst shell on the Fourth of July. ID proponents have taken several approaches to demonstrating the existence of design in nature, including arguments based on the dazzling “fine-tuning” of the universe’s physical laws, and on the “irreducible complexity” of biological structures and processes (most famously advanced by Prof. Michael Behe in Darwin’s Black Box).
Of the approaches taken by ID theorists, Signature in the Cell is most closely aligned with the pioneering work on design detection published over the last decade by mathematician William Dembski, one of Meyer’s colleagues at the Discovery Institute. Dembski and Meyer both rely, at least in part, on information theory and probabilistic analysis to determine whether a phenomenon is best explained as the product of unguided “chance and necessity,” or of design by an intelligence.
The major contribution by Meyer’s formidable new book is to employ these tools in a searching, sustained examination of the nature of the information encoded in DNA, how information is processed in the cell, and how that information and processing machinery might have arisen in the first place. The heart of the book addresses this “origin of life” problem. He tackles it at the level of the detailed molecular biochemistry of DNA and RNA, the cellular processes by which the information encoded in those molecules is replicated, and the mechanisms by which the myriad proteins necessary for cell function are produced.
Meyer’s argument is a comprehensive one, rooted in multiple scientific and philosophical disciplines, and he is perhaps uniquely qualified to make it. His background is in physics and earth science, and he earned his PhD from Cambridge University in philosophy of science, with a thesis on origin of life research. Although not himself a biologist, the detailed facts of molecular biology Meyer presents in the book, on which he bases his principal arguments, are sound and accurate scientifically (I checked with an impartial expert). There is far more to the book than biology, but let’s start with the argument based on information in the cell.
AS MEYER SHOWS, it was perhaps plausible in the 19th century to believe that purely natural, unguided processes could have produced the first cell. Beginning with Friedrich Wöhler’s discovery that an organic compound (urea) could be synthesized solely from inorganic chemicals, the supposition emerged: if organic compounds could arise from inorganic ones, why not life itself?
Darwin’s Origin of Species did not provide a theory about how life first arose, but he speculated privately that a protein compound “ready to undergo still more complex changes” might have been chemically formed in some “warm little pond, with all sorts of ammonia and phosphoric salts, light, heat, electricity, etc…” By the latter part of the 19th century, the “protoplasmic” theory had gained predominance, in which cells were considered to be little more than bags of nitrogen-rich jelly. It wasn’t difficult to imagine that such bland entities could have arisen from random natural processes.
Although it was soon learned that cells were considerably more complex than that, it wasn’t until 1953, when Watson and Crick discovered the double helix structure of DNA, that all easy assumptions about life’s origins were shattered forever. Scientists quickly realized, and proved conclusively, that the DNA molecule was something very special: a repository of an immense amount of information, nearly exactly analogous to computer code, that specifies how proteins necessary for life are manufactured in the cell.
And that’s where the book becomes mind-blowing. In a few chapters, Meyer lays out with admirable clarity the chemical processes by which information is stored in the DNA molecule and details the tightly integrated cell machinery for transcription of that information. He describes the built-in error correction mechanisms that allow that information to be read and duplicated with astounding accuracy. He shows how the primary code in DNA (which is not suited to forming proteins directly) is translated into a higher-level code, which in turn specifies the sequencing of the 20 amino acids used to form proteins, and he delineates the mechanism by which amino acids are then assembled in precise order in the cell’s ribosome to become functional proteins.
These and other cellular processes are set forth in considerable technical detail. It takes a bit of concentration, but with the help of the book’s many illustrations and Meyer’s lucid writing style, the technical scientific descriptions are remarkably easy to follow.
By the time the reader is done with them, an unbidden conviction takes shape: these astonishingly intricate molecular machines, and the informational software that drives them, could not have arisen, even in a vastly simpler form, as a result of chance combinations of chemicals on the primitive earth. Meyer then nails down that precise point with biological and mathematical tools. Let’s look for a moment at the magnitude of the improbabilities we are dealing with here.
As Meyer notes, it has been calculated that the mathematical chance of producing a functional protein (any functional protein, not a specific protein) of a modest length of 150 amino acids, out of all of the possible sequences 150 amino acids long, is about one in 10^74. Since the number of atoms in our galaxy may be estimated to be 10^65, it would be about a billion times easier to find a single marked atom in the Milky Way by a completely random search than to produce a functional protein 150 amino acids long by chance. Historically, those advocating that life could arise from random combinations of molecules typically have invoked lengthy time periods that would permit such unlikely results to occur. In the 1950s, a biochemist quoted by Meyer explained that, “Time is in fact the hero of the plot…. Given so much time, the impossible becomes possible, the possible probable, and the probable virtually certain.”
Well, no. Life on earth, according to most scientists, developed within the first billion years or so after earth’s formation. A billion years (nine zeros) seems like a long time, but any scenario relying on chance is hopelessly, pathetically, impossibly inadequate when confronted with probabilities such as 1 out of 100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, 000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, 000,000,000,000 (74 zeros for the modest protein just mentioned).
A man of faith in a godless age is hitting Americans where it hurts.
Mr. and Mrs. American Spectator Reader, let P.J. O’Rourke talk sense to your kids.
In Britain, defending your property can get you life.
The debacle of this president’s administration is both a cause and a symptom of the decline of American values. Unless Congress impeaches him, that decline will go on unchecked. An eminent jurist surveys the damage and assesses the chances for the recovery of our culture.
It won’t take long for conservatives to scratch this presidential wannabe off their 2008 scorecard.
The American Christmas, like the songs that celebrate it, makes room for everybody under the rainbow. Is that why so many people seem to be hostile to it?
Was the President done in by the economy, or by the politics of the economy? | <urn:uuid:bb47d767-c34f-4dd0-b654-ea478799756a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://spectator.org/archives/2009/09/16/blown-away | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937809 | 1,840 | 1.804688 | 2 |
Director: Linda Hoaglund
Linda Hoaglund’s documentary deftly conveys the mood of the 1960 protests against the Japan-U.S. security treaty (anpo). But for a subject that remains controversial, mood is hardly enough. Consider this: Hiroshi Nakamura, an artist present in 1960 and who Hoaglund depicts as a brush-wielding malcontent, recently told a Tokyo audience he would not demand closure of U.S. bases in Japan. The question “Anpo” should have posed: Why is it so hard for Japanese, even members of 1960′s anti-treaty movement, to turn their backs on the U.S. today? | <urn:uuid:5512ee77-b7d4-45fe-bd53-e2e7016fe939> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2010/09/17/culture/anpo-art-x-war/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960561 | 145 | 1.585938 | 2 |
A new whitepaper Visualization at Supercomputing Centers: The Tale of Little Big Iron and the Three Skinny Guys from Wes Bethel and company from LBNL looks at the importance of visualization in big supercomputing centers and how viz specialists, the “Skinny Guys,” give scientists the power to see.
The main focus of this article is to explore different aspects of planning, designing, elding, and maintaining the visualization and analysis infrastructure at supercomputing centers. Some of the questions we explore in this article include: How should the Little Iron be sized to adequately support vis/analysis of data coming off the big iron? What sort of capabilities does it need to have? Related questions concern the size of visualization support staff: “How big should a visualization program be (number of persons) and what should the staff do?” and “How much of the visualization should be provided as a support service, and how much should applications scientists be expected to do on their own?” | <urn:uuid:9e23362e-e2c5-4bc2-8e70-642c8e68f001> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://insidehpc.com/2011/01/28/whitepaper-visualization-from-the-skinny-guys-at-big-supercomputer-centers/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931421 | 208 | 1.695313 | 2 |
Commander: Chuck Teller
House Manager: John Brown
Auxiliary President: Herta Scott
Newsletter Co-Editor: Sharon Evenson
Newsletter Co-Editor: Betty Cline
Charles A. Hammond
Lt. Charles A. Hammond is one of Port Huron's best-known soldiers. He also was one of the first local men killed in World War I. Born Jan. 11, 1887, he was a master machinist before joining the U.S. Army in 1910, at the age of 23. During World War I, Lt. Hammond led Company L into the battlefield of France. He was killed in action July 31, 1918, on Hill 212 in Sergy, France. He was posthumously awarded a Distinguished Service Cross for his heroics, as well as medals from the American, French, British and Belgian governments. American Legion Post 8 in Port Huron was named in his honor in 1919. His body was returned to Port Huron on July 24, 1921. He is buried in Lakeside Cemetery.
Taken from "Our Heroes" - Mary Lou Creamer
Click on an image below to enlarge it. | <urn:uuid:98b6337e-c7d4-48e4-a6ab-0be83af0445a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cahalpost8.org/pics.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977556 | 238 | 1.789063 | 2 |
Ah, yes, embedded giving. It may just be the buzzword with the greatest traction of all time. And widespread discussion of it is back, this time in a series on the concept sponsored by Telecom for Charity - you may have seen posts on Causewired, TacticalPhilanthropy, SocialEntrepreneurship on Change.org, SocialCitizens, ThePhilanthropicFamily, or GiveWell.
These fine bloggers have asked all the right questions - does it matter, does it add up, is the right metric awareness, not dollars? So what do I have to add to this? Here are a few thoughts on wither it all:
- Embedded giving is here to stay* - as long it keeps working for the merchants. It is not inherently new (we've been rounding up our phone bills for decades now), it won't disappear without either a massive scandal or regulatory prohibition, and it will get more technologically "embedded" - witness search engines for good, telecom for good, etc..
- Embedded giving has grown so much that it now comes in different stripes - (a) The first kind is really about building a brand around a cause and using commerce to raise funds. I'd put Product RED in this category and note that it is its own brand. It is one massive awareness raising and fundraising campaign that can (sort of) report out on products sold, dollars raised and donated. (b) At the other end of the spectrum are campaigns that are much more about adding a little "feel good" to expected purchases - these are the campaigns where a merchant asks you to add $1 to fight childhood diabetes, MS, or breast cancer. You either give or not, take your groceries, and that is pretty much the end of it in terms of your awareness, the merchant's reporting, and so on.
- Embedded giving is just one more example of the blurring of sectors and roles between commerce, philanthropy, and public good.
This would be one more ripple in the shifting expectations of sectors. Almost twenty percent of the 2009 Harvard Business School graduating class signed a voluntary ethics pledge that touches on corporate responsibility. This is the age of social enterprise, of American youth and teens with a heightened volunteer and service ethic, of the National Service Act, AmericaForward, Office of Social Innovation and predictions that "recession era" teens will focus their careers on public service jobs. If this is where we're headed, embedded giving is not the story, or even the end in and of itself, it is simply one more way in which we can see the world shift around us.
*There is at least one looming irony about embedded giving. As it becomes more embedded it may become less of a distinguishing factor for a merchant - at which point type 2(B) above may lose its point and cease to be everywhere. Remember, embedded giving is as much (if not more) of a merchandising tactic as a fund/awareness raising tactic. In this case, embedded giving could die out from its own "success."
**Links to organizations, companies or legislation in this post do not indicate endorsement.
This blog post is part of the Embedded Philanthropy Blog Series, sponsored by Telecom for Charity. The blog series was launched in May 2009 to highlight expert thinking and encourage discussions on the state of embedded philanthropy in today’s economy. | <urn:uuid:5f69e02d-295d-4bee-9140-1798b4aeed08> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://philanthropy.blogspot.jp/2009_05_01_archive.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951016 | 689 | 1.773438 | 2 |
We joined the hundreds of luminaries who have sampled the all-electric Nissan Leaf before it arrives in December. It's an impressive piece of software baked into an expensive compact car. Here's how the Leaf turns driving into an app.
Automakers have futzed with electricity as a source of power for over a century with little success, mainly because batteries simply can't hold as much energy per pound as gasoline. The Leaf and the rest of the new-age EVs tackle those problems with a cavalcade of technology that solve some issues while adding a few new ones.
This walkaround with Mark Perry, Nissan North America's product planning chief, gives you an idea of how different electric car ownership will be from a regular vehicle when the first few hundred Leafs hit the United States this year:
Even in its darkest days, Nissan earned a reputation for top-notch engineering, and with the Leaf, Nissan shows it can compile capable software as well as hardware. Owners can choose from three start-up sounds, similar to a desktop PC, which Perry said was necessary because testers couldn't tell when the vehicle was on. If owners forget to plug it in, the Leaf can email a reminder. And its navigation system can automatically find the nearest electric charging stations.
We didn't have a chance to drive the Leaf much beyond city traffic, but doing so wouldn't have revealed any hidden oasis of driving pleasure. Outside of a nice launch boost from the electric motor's instantly available 206 lb.-ft. of torque, the Leaf rides and handles like a generic compact car. Its 3,200-lb. curb weight provides some buffer from rough roads, but at higher speeds the 108-hp motivates with the polite restraint of a kindergarten teacher.
The Leaf's software also holds dominion on the road. The speedometer sports a little "tree" that grows the more economically a driver performs; eventually you can rack up a tiny grove of electric trees. Instead of a shifter, the Leaf has an oversize computer mouse to shift to drive or "Eco," the mode of choice for hypermilers. In Eco, the car boosts its regenerative braking and stiffens the accelerator pedal response; shifting into it at speed felt like the Leaf had been hugged by a polar bear.
To maintain a range of 80 to 110 miles, the Leaf will use more than 90% of the energy that its 24-kWh lithium-ion batteries can hold. That's a Muhammed Ali-worthy pummeling compared to the ginger 50% load that the Chevrolet Volt will limit its 16-kWh pack to. "We have 17 years of experience with these batteries," Perry said. "We're confident in them."
What's most jarring about driving the Leaf is just how much data it wants to give you. During our drive, we scrubbed several miles off the range, but the Leaf nudged us to note that shutting off the air conditioning would add eight miles back to the reserve. But should a Leaf driver attempt a Kramer-esque testing of its distance-to-empty measures, the car will coast to a stop with a modicum of power still left in its battery pack, the reserve meant to ensure battery conditioning capable of meeting its 8-year, 100,000-mile warranty.
The high-tech gleam — and a marketing push far greater than seemingly justified by a 20,000 vehicle per year sales goal — has generated Nissan 19,500 pre-orders for the Leaf, and Perry nearly snagged another during our drive from a Civic driver at a stoplight. Yet despite its technology, the $32,000 Leaf would lose a strict comparison of driving functions, costs and enjoyment to an $18,000 Nissan Sentra.
But the Leaf isn't about driving as an experience to savor. It's software with wheels, a rolling app meant to strictly oversee how much energy you're using on the road. For those who get satisfaction from such parsimony, and don't live in an apartment or other dwelling with no access to a 220-volt outdoor plug, the Leaf offers a compelling solution to the problem of driving.
If you don't see driving as a problem, the Leaf isn't for you. | <urn:uuid:ce5e6ac4-ef81-4853-9d52-e48e12d1cef9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://jalopnik.com/5640773/nissan-leaf-first-drive?rel=author | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964704 | 860 | 1.695313 | 2 |
During the United Fund's Torchlight Campaign, the Times Observer will help contributors take a look at the myriad ways the united Fund assists local agencies who, in turn, serve our entire community.
I was looking for a small momento for our volunteers who came to this year's volunteer recognition dinner. Looking through a magazine from The Salvation Army, I found a small pin that had a red kettle on it and the pin said, "Expect Change." It was a wonderful thought for people who give themselves in work for The Salvation Army. As we come to our new United Fund Campaign, we have 21 organizations that people in Warren County can "Expect Change" when they are in need. The Warren County United Fund can help us help them smile.
At The Salvation Army, we help families smile by changing their physical needs. Last year more than 300 men, women and children were fed each week at The Salvation Army's meals programs. Lunch and a Wednesday supper meal are served at the Army. The Salvation Army provides county residents with monthly food baskets. Approximately 700 eligible households are helped with food donated by the state and federal governments. The Salvation Army's Emergency Food Pantry is open weekdays to provide food to families in crisis. This food provides people with the opportunity to change their physical situation with a good nutritious meal.
At the Salvation Army, we help families smile by changing their housing situation! Transients, fire victims and others in crisis, receive emergency lodging through The Salvation Army. Individuals and families facing eviction are considered for rent or mortgage assistance to prevent relocation and provide stability for each family. Utility bills are paid to keep electric, gas, or water in these homes. What change comes over a family knowing they are able to stay in their home! They are all smiles.
The Salvation Army sees that children from low-income families are "bundled-up" each winter, by providing new winter coats, boots, hats and mittens to more than 200 children and senior citizens each October. We provide new school clothing and book bags to another 75 children each August, so that students can return to school less concerned about how they are dressed and more excited about learning. The Salvation Army also provides gently worn clothing to men, women and children in need throughout the year.
The Salvation Army goes the extra mile to help others experience the joy of the holiday season. Last year, the "Treasures for Children" program provided Christmas gifts, toys and clothing to more than 500 area children. Approximately 1,000 nursing home residents, inmates and mental health patients received visits and Christmas gifts. The Salvation Army also provides a bountiful Christmas food basket for nearly 350 families to enjoy together.
So, through your contributions, the Salvation Army is seeing people change from frowns to smiles. We cannot do it without the help you give through our United Fund. Thank you for helping us help them smile. | <urn:uuid:61b113fe-c43a-4ac1-8bbd-fa3358223cdc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.timesobserver.com/page/content.detail/id/559982/The-Salvation-Army--Anticipating-change.html?nav=5003 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969212 | 585 | 1.578125 | 2 |
Over the years, Barlett and Steele kept at it, in newspaper and magazine articles and more books, focusing on the growing gap between the rich and other Americans and the ability of multinational corporations to get their way, no matter which political party controlled the White House and Congress. Last year, they joined forces with the Investigative Reporting Workshop at American University in Washington to take stock 20 years after "America: What Went Wrong," with a website full of new stories by workshop reporters, several articles by Barlett and Steele published in The Inquirer and this new book.
Their unsurprising conclusion is that things have only gotten worse. "The forces that are dismantling the American middle class are relentless," they write in the book. "America must stop sacrificing its greatest asset. Because, without a middle class, there isn't really an America."
What has changed is that Barlett and Steele are now far from alone. American news media, bookshelves, and political rhetoric have been filled in recent years with revelations and arguments about income and tax inequities, Wall Street excesses and financial manipulation, deregulation and workforce downsizing, trade deficits and outsourcing jobs, corporate chicanery and political influence, and Americans who feel betrayed by it all. Much of the The Betrayal of the American Dream has been stated elsewhere in one form or another, including, notably, by Barlett and Steele themselves.
They have added in this book their prescription for "restoring the American dream": reforming the tax system, making free trade fairer for American workers, investing federal funds in the country's infrastructure, improving worker training, punishing corporate wrongdoing and persuading middle-class Americans to vote for politicians who would actually look out for their interests.
If much of this appears obvious and perhaps simplistic, so do many of the book's passionately stated conclusions. For all of its data-mining and poignant human examples, the book comes across more as a clarion call to do something about "One-Percenters," "Executive Excess," "Subsidizing the Rich," "Corporate Greed," and "Vanishing Jobs" than a clarifying in-depth examination of these complicated issues and what could realistically be done about them.
Dating back to the early 1970s at The Inquirer, Barlett and Steele have been prize-winning pioneers in data-based local and national investigative reporting, in which, in Steele's words, they "gather, marshal, and organize vast amounts of data already in the public domain," buttressed by anecdotal examples of what they find. They exposed injustices in Philadelphia's local courts, fraud in federal housing programs, manipulation of oil markets, and federal tax favoritism, evasion and lax enforcement. During their remarkable four-decade journalistic partnership at The Inquirer and, later, Time and Vanity Fair magazines, they won two Pulitzer Prizes for newspaper reporting and two National Magazine Awards.
As time went on and the subjects of their reporting became more sprawling, they shifted somewhat from mostly creating their own databases — as they did in the Philadelphia courts and land records — to also utilizing those compiled by others, including government agencies, private groups, and researchers. This book relies on those techniques, including analysis of an enormous quantity of public records of all kinds, listed in "a note on sources," although it does not break much new ground.
One hopes it is not their valedictory. At a time when the future of investigative reporting is at risk in the digital reconstruction of American news media, Barlett and Steele could once again pioneer new ways of doing it, as they did in part through this collaboration with the Investigative Reporting Workshop.
In any event, the publication of The Betrayal of the American Dream during the home stretch of the national political campaign injects a provocative populist imperative into an increasingly intense and perhaps decisive partisan debate over the fate of the American middle class.
Leonard Downie Jr., vice president at large and former executive editor of the Washington Post, is the Weil Family Professor of Journalism at Arizona State University's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism in Phoenix. | <urn:uuid:cacfee3a-f84a-4982-bc84-9e1166d0429e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://articles.philly.com/2012-07-22/news/32789122_1_barlett-and-steele-middle-class-james-b-steele | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968633 | 835 | 1.757813 | 2 |
Date: October 21, 1881
Creator: Osterhout, John Patterson
Description: Letter from John Patterson Osterhout to his daughter, Gertrude Osterhout, from when he was traveling around in Texas. He told her where he'd been traveling and that he and the family were doing well. He closed his letter by saying she should bring her roommate down next time she visits.
Contributing Partner: Austin College | <urn:uuid:21e11ab1-0ebd-4964-9d7a-3cd968666d27> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://texashistory.unt.edu/explore/partners/ASTC/browse/?fq=str_location_county%3ARobertson+County%2C+TX&fq=untl_decade%3A1880-1889 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.98484 | 93 | 1.640625 | 2 |
Welcome to Mailbox Monday, the weekly meme created by Marcia, formerly from The Printed Page, where book lovers share the titles they received for review, purchased, or otherwise obtained over the past week. Mailbox Monday currently is on tour, and this month’s host is Lori’s Reading Corner.
I haven’t posted my books in a few weeks due to various tour dates, but here’s what I received since Christmas:
Emma, perhaps the most technically accomplished of all of Austen’s novels, is also, after Pride and Prejudice, her most popular one. Its numerous films and television adaptations testify to the world’s enduring affection for the headstrong, often misguided Emma Woodhouse and her many romantic schemes. Like the previous volumes in Harvard’s celebrated annotated Austen series, Emma: An Annotated Edition is a beautiful and illuminating gift collection that will be treasured by readers.
Stimulating and helpful annotations appear in the book’s margins, offering information, definitions, and commentary. In his Introduction, Bharat Tandon suggests several ways to approach the novel, enabling a larger appreciation of its central concerns and accomplishments. Appearing throughout the book are many illustrations, often in color, which help the reader to better picture the Regency-era world that serves as the stage for Emma’s matchmaking adventures.
Whether explaining the intricacies of early nineteenth-century dinner etiquette or speculating on Highbury’s deliberately imprecise geographical location, Tandon serves as a delightful and entertaining guide. For those coming to the novel for the first time or those returning to it, Emma: An Annotated Edition offers a valuable portal to Austen’s world. (publisher’s summary)
From the editor of the popular Annotated Pride and Prejudice comes an annotated edition of Jane Austen’s Persuasion that makes the beloved novel an even more satisfying and fulfilling read. Here is the complete text of Persuasion with hundreds of annotations on the facing pages, including:
- Explanations of historical context
- Citations from Austen’s life, letters, and other writings
- Definitions and clarifications
- Literary comments and analysis
- Plentiful maps and illustrations
- An introduction, bibliography, and detailed chronology of events
Packed with all kinds of illuminating information — from what Bath and Lyme looked like at the time to how “bathing machines” at seaside resorts were used to how Wentworth could have made a fortune from the Napoleonic Wars — David M. Shapard’s delightfully entertaining edition brings Austen’s novel of second chances vividly to life. (publisher’s summary)
The year is 1942, and Norway is under Nazi occupation. Twelve-year-old Marit has decided to take action, decided not to heed her grandfather’s warnings. But will her plan work? Can she really complete her part of this secret code? And even if she can, will it make any difference to the Resistance?
As this novel reveals what Norwegian people did to preserve their dignity and freedoms, it uncovers a startling statistic: the German secret police systematically rounded up one teacher in ten and sent them to concentration camps for their refusal to teach Nazi propaganda to Norwegian schoolchildren. Set on an island of sturdy fishing trawlers and brightly painted homes, this is a riveting novel about a young girl taking risks, keeping secrets, and constantly wondering whom she can really trust. (publisher’s summary)
At the end of the Second World War, an estimated thirty thousand Nazi war criminals fled from justice, including some of the highest-ranking members of the Nazi Party. Many of them have names that resonate deeply in twentieth-century history — Eichmann, Mengele, Martin Bormann, and Klaus Barbie — not just for the monstrosity of their crimes, but also because of the shadowy nature of their post-war existence, holed up in the depths of Latin America, always one step ahead of their pursuers. Aided and abetted by prominent people throughout Europe, they hid in foreboding castles high in the Austrian Alps and were taken in by shady Argentine secret agents. The attempts to bring them to justice are no less dramatic, featuring vengeful Holocaust survivors, inept politicians, and daring plots to kidnap or assassinate the fugitives.
In this exhaustively researched and compellingly written work of World War II history and investigative reporting, journalist and novelist Guy Walters gives a comprehensive account of one of the most shocking and important aspects of the war: how the most notorious Nazi war criminals escaped justice; how they were pursued, captured, or able to remain free until their natural deaths; and how the Nazis were assisted while they were on the run by “helpers” ranging from a Vatican bishop to a British camel doctor, and even members of Western intelligence services. Based on all-new interviews with Nazi hunters and former Nazis and intelligence agents, travels along the actual escape routes, and archival research in Germany, Britain, the United States, Austria, and Italy, Hunting Evil authoritatively debunks much of what has previously been understood about Nazis and Nazi hunters in the post-war era, including myths about the alleged “Spider” and “Odessa” escape networks and the surprising truth about the world’s most legendary Nazi hunter, Simon Wiesenthal.
From its haunting chronicles of the heinous mass murders the Nazis perpetrated and the murky details of their post-war existence to the challenges of hunting them down, Hunting Evil is a monumental work of nonfiction written with the pacing and intrigue of a thriller. (publisher’s summary)
In this imaginative retelling of Pride and Prejudice, Amanda Grange now tells the classic story through the eyes of its compelling romantic hero, Fitzwilliam Darcy, in a series of revealing letters that casts a sparkling new reflection on the manners and morals of the landed gentry in nineteenth-century England.
Here, for the first time are the letters written by the exceedingly proud and stubborn Mr. Darcy, covering the life-changing events that defined him — from the death of his father, to his control of his Derbyshire estate of Pemberley, to his conflicted courtship with the lively, intelligent, and delightfully willful Elizabeth Bennet. Try as he may, he cannot deny his attraction to this woman with fine eyes, a playful spirit, a mind of her own…and an embarrassing family that is frankly and utterly beneath him. But it is Elizabeth who controls both their destinies, and whose surprises will change Darcy’s life yet again. (publisher’s summary)
She was a private woman who became a poet in order to reveal the truth about herself. He was a master of deception and a murderer whose greatest creation was his own shadowy persona.
Simon Worrall takes readers on a spellbinding journey into the lives of Emily Dickinson, Mark Hofmann, and the great literary forgery that links them together. (publisher’s summary)
Purchased With Christmas Gift Cards:
In the village of Highbury, young Emma Woodhouse is an expert in romance. Believing herself a matchmaker, she employs her knack for pairing people at every opportunity. According to her, she hasn’t been wrong yet, and the mere thought she could be is quite preposterous. When a single young lady — Harriet Smith — arrives in Highbury, Emma is determined to find her a suitable gentleman caller. Between card parties, suppers and carriage drives, everything seems to be going according to plan. However, love has other intentions! With her schemes backfiring in ways she could not anticipate, Emma finds her meddling is leading to heartbreak — her own! Can she set aside her agenda before true love goes asunder? (publisher’s summary)
Mr. Darcy Bites Back by Mary Lydon Simonsen (Amazon)
As Mr. and Mrs. Darcy approach the first anniversary of their marriage, they look upon their life together as very much an idyll. With one exception. Their lives will always be ruled by the lunar cycle as the Master of Pemberley is a werewolf.
As Darcy prepares his pack for nightfall, an unsettling rumor is being spread in the village that a phantom Ghost Buck has appeared in Wentside Woods on the Darcy estate. Because Darcy does not believe the stag exists, he wants to know who started the rumor. Is it possible that someone has learned his darkest secret and is trying to draw him out? (publisher’s summary)
For All the Wrong Reasons by Mary Lydon Simonsen (Amazon)
Pemberley, the Darcy estate, is entailed away from the female line. When Fitzwilliam Darcy learns that Peter Grayson, the prospective heir, is to marry Caroline Bingley, he realizes that he must quickly find a wife so that he might have a son. But will Elizabeth Bennet agree to a loveless marriage, and if so, will she marry for all the wrong reasons? (publisher’s summary)
The day after the assembly at Meryton, Fitzwilliam Darcy departs Hertfordshire believing that he leaves little of interest behind him. But when Elizabeth Bennet comes to Kent to visit the recently married Charlotte Collins, Darcy has an opportunity for a second look at the dark-haired beauty, and he is instantly smitten. Unfortunately for Mr. Darcy, Elizabeth has a long memory, and the gentleman from Derbyshire will have to earn her love. His efforts begin with a walk in the meadows at Rosings Park.
Bonus Short Story: Mr. Darcy Steps In. When Darcy learns that Mr. Collins plans to make an offer of marriage to Elizabeth Bennet, he knows that he must do something, but what happens next is completely unexpected. (publisher’s summary)
Artist Annie Wright likes her life free of complications, especially complications of the male persuasion. She has her dream job running an art gallery by the sea, her volunteer work rescuing abandoned dogs, and that’s enough for her. She doesn’t like to talk about her past, especially how she became a widow after just a few years of marriage…until one day when her past walks right into the Cape Light Gallery in the form of her late husband’s best friend, Jeremy, the man who left the country rather than see Annie married to someone else. Add in an abused and distrustful pile of fur named Bear and the machinations of the powerful Westing family, and Annie’s life is suddenly full of complications. (publisher’s summary)
Florence, Italy; September 1943: A country at peace seems within reach now that an armistice has been declared. And as they celebrate their mother’s birthday, the Cammaccio sisters have every reason to be happy. Caterina has had the final fitting for her wedding dress and Isabella is about to begin her last year at the university. Then the German occupation begins.
Unsure if her fiancé is alive, Caterina witnesses the human cost of war from the hospital where she works, while Isabella throws herself into the Resistance. As the winter deepens, the sisters make decisions that will change their lives and echo for the next sixty years.
In present-day Florence, Inspector Alessandro Pallioti is asked to take over a routine investigation into the murder of a lonely old man. But in his youth the victim had been a partisan hero, and it’s soon obvious that the crime is much more than an ordinary burglary gone wrong. Pallioti finds himself racing against time to solve a mystery that is every bit as deadly today as it was sixty years ago in the winter of Florence’s terror…when the lives of two sisters were shattered. (publisher’s summary)
Cate Kendall is no stranger to daydreams of brooding men and fancy parties — after all, she teaches one of her beloved Jane Austen novels in her English classes every year. But as for romance or adventure in her own life, the highlight of most weeks is Scrabble with her cute coworker, Ethan, and he draws the line at witty banter.
But Cate is ready for a change. when she finds a mysterious journal that seems to have a link to the soul of the great Jane Austen herself, she knows it’s her chance. And she grabs on with both hands…
Before she knows it, Cate has invented an alter ego with an attitude, attended some seriously chic soirees, and gotten tangled up with a delicious mystery man. And she’s uncovered enough secrets about Ethan that her Scrabble partner has taken to brooding looks and unfathomable silences. It’s a positively Austenite predicament, and Cate is sure she’ll land in hot water and heartbreak — but maybe not with Jane herself to guide her… (publisher’s summary)
Decades ago, as Nazi planes dominated the sky, eighteen-year-old Lily Verner made a terrible mistake. She’s tried for years to forget, but now an unexpected event pulls her back to the 1940s British countryside. She finds herself remembering the brilliant colors of the silk she helped to weave at her family’s mill, the relentless pressure of the worsening war, and the kind of heartbreaking loss that stops time.
In this evocative novel of love and consequences, Lily finally confronts the disastrous decision that has haunted her all these years. The Last Telegram uncovers the surprising truth about how the stories we weave about our lives are threaded with truth, guilt, and forgiveness. (publisher’s summary)
The year is 1777. As the war for American independence rages across the sea, London is swept off its feet by Jack Absolute, the dashing rogue in Richard Sheridan’s comedy The Rivals. That is, until the real Jack Absolute, former captain of the 16th Light Dragoons, returns after years abroad to discover this slander of his reputation. Before he can even protest, he is embroiled in a duel over an alluring actress of questionable repute, and his only escape is the one he most dreads: to be pressed again into the King’s Service — this time, as a spy for the British in the Revolutionary War.
Fierce, cunning, charming, and the blood brother of a Mohawk leader, Jack is the perfect scout to recruit the Iroquois tribes and thus swing the war in favor of the British. But he discovers that there are even deadlier opponents at work than the colonial rebels he seeks to quash: a secret society that has infiltrated the red ranks in pursuit of its own sinister purposes…with Jack as its first target.
From the streets of London to the bloody battlefields of Saratoga, from forest fights on the Hudson to the seedy corners of wintry Philadelphia, Jack Absolute marks the exhilarating beginning of an epic historical series and a character you won’t soon forget. (publisher’s summary)
Since ancient times, every Halloween, the ritual of Sanun in performed, freeing the dead to interact with the living for one night. One Evil Soul discovers a way to hide from the Return, remaining on Earth to meddle with the fates of the living. As the centuries pass, It begins to search for the High Priestess, intending to force her to do its bidding, no matter the cost.
Appearances can be deceiving, even in Regency England. To most, Elizabeth Bennet is simply the second daughter of an insignificant country squire, but in truth, she is High Priestess and leader of an ancient cult secretly co-existing alongside British society. Confusion reigns when she learns that the man she despises, Fitzwilliam Darcy, is her soul mate, assigned to protect her from Evil. Can they work together to preserve the future? (publisher’s summary)
Acadian Waltz by Alexandrea Weis — from the author (Amazon)
At thirty, Nora Kehoe is feeling pressured to settle down. On a blind date, Nora unexpectedly ends up in the emergency room where she meets Dr. John Blessing. She hopes the pragmatic Dr. Blessing can make her life complete. Then, a passionate encounter with a childhood friend changes everything.
The charismatic Jean Marc Gaspard manages the family business, Gaspard Fisheries. But rumors abound that Jean Marc is running more than seafood through the waters around Manchac, Louisiana. When a family crisis sends Nora to Manchac, she is thrown headlong into the dangerous world of smugglers and swindlers. And as Jean Marc tries to protect Nora from his past, he realizes he may lose her because of it.
The dark bayou waters run deep with secrets in Louisiana, and every Cajun knows how to dance the fine line between the right and wrong side of the law. But for strangers, learning the steps of staying alive in the swamps can be tricky. Life, and love, will be dependent on how well one can master the…Acadian Waltz. (publisher’s summary)
From the author of The Books of Lost Fragrances comes a haunting novel about a grieving woman who discovers the lost letters of novelist Victor Hugo, awakening a mystery that spans centuries.
In 1843, novelist Victor Hugo’s beloved nineteen-year-old daughter drowned. Ten years later, Hugo began participating in hundreds of séances to reestablish contact with her. In the process, he claimed to have communed with likes of Plato, Galileo, Shakespeare, Dante, Jesus — and even the Devil himself. Hugo’s transcriptions of these conversations have all been published. Or so it was believed.
Recovering from her own losses, mythologist Jac L’Etoile arrives on the Isle of Jersey — where Hugo conducted the séances — hoping to uncover a secret about the island’s Celtic roots. But the man who’s invited her there, a troubled soul named Theo Gaspard, has hopes she’ll help him discover something quite different — Hugo’s lost conversations with someone called the Shadow of the Sepulcher.
What follows is an intricately plotted and atmospheric tale of suspense with a spellbinding ghost story at its heart, by one of America’s most gifted and imaginative novelists. (publisher’s summary)
London, 1933. Two months after the body of an Indian woman named Usha Pramal is found in the brackish water of a South London canal, her brother, newly arrived in England, turns to Maisie Dobbs to find the truth about her death. Not only has Scotland Yard made no arrests, evidence indicates that they failed to conduct a full and thorough investigation.
Before her death, Usha was staying at the Ayah’s Hostel, alongside Indian women whose British employers turned them out into the street, penniless and far from their homeland, when their services were no longer needed. As Maisie soon learns, Usha was different from the hostel’s other lodgers. But with this discovery comes new danger — another Indian woman who had information about Usha is found murdered before she can talk to Maisie.
As Maisie is pulled deeper into a vibrant culture she finds fascinating, her investigation becomes clouded by the “unfinished business” of a previous case, and by a growing desire to see more of the world — to follow in the footsteps of her former mentor, Maurice Blanche. And there is her lover, James Compton, who gives her an ultimatum she cannot ignore.
Bringing a crucial chapter in the life and times of Maisie Dobbs to a close, Leaving Everything Most Loved marks a pivotal moment in this “outstanding” (Marilyn Stasio, New York Times Book Review) series. (publisher’s summary)
A place out of time, Ashaunt Point — a tiny finger of land jutting into Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts — has provided sanctuary and anchored life for generations of the Porter family, who summer along its remote, rocky shore.
But in 1942, the U.S. Army arrives on the Point, bringing havoc and change. That summer, the two older Porter girls — teenagers Helen and Dossie — run wild. The children’s Scottish nurse, Bea, falls in love. And youngest daughter Janie is entangled in an incident that cuts the season short and haunts the family for years to come.
As the decades pass, Helen and then her son Charlie return to the point, seeking refuge from the chaos of rapidly changing times. But Ashaunt is not entirely removed from the events unfolding beyond its borders. Neither Charlie nor his mother can escape the long shadow of history — Vietnam, the bitterly disputed real estate development of the Point, economic misfortune, illness, and tragedy.
An unforgettable portrait of one family’s journey through the second half of the twentieth century, The End of the Point artfully probes the hairline fractures beneath the surface of our lives and traces the fragile and enduring bonds that connect us. With subtlety and grace, Elizabeth Graver illuminates the powerful legacy of family and place, exploring what we are born into, what we pass down, preserve, cast off, or willingly set free. (publisher’s summary)
What books did you add to your shelves recently?
Disclosure: I am an IndieBound affiliate and an Amazon associate.
© 2013 Anna Horner of Diary of an Eccentric. All Rights Reserved. Please do not reproduce or republish content without permission. | <urn:uuid:6939b129-7428-4a08-9149-c6151a7767f7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://diaryofaneccentric.wordpress.com/2013/01/21/mailbox-monday-january-21/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953819 | 4,549 | 1.75 | 2 |
IUCN Marine Programme in Oceania Ramps Up
13 November 2008 | News story
The recruitment of a marine programme officer at IUCN’s Oceania Regional Office in Suva, promises to boost the organisation’s input to marine conservation activities in the region. Kelvin Passfield, who commenced work at the Suva-based office in August this year, brings with him extensive experience in the management of fisheries from throughout the Asia and Pacific region.
Kelvin’s past work has included aquaculture development and management; fisheries and environmental policy development; and coastal ecosystem management. His interest in fisheries management issues was kindled during his years as a commercial fisherman in the Torres Straits Islands (located between Australia and Papua New Guinea) in the 1980s. He has also worked in Cook Islands, Fiji, Samoa, Tokelau, Tuvalu, Maldives and in various countries bordering the South China Sea.
Kelvin’s initial work at IUCN involves conducting an assessment of the impact of longline fisheries on seamounts in the Pacific. This assessment will inform the activities of the Oceanic Fisheries Management Project (OFMP), a 5 year initiative designed to improve the management and conservation of oceanic fishery resources in the Pacific islands region. The OFMP is being conducted jointly by the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA), the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) and IUCN.
In addition to contributing to the OFMP, Kelvin will focus his work on developing a broader and longer-term programme for IUCN’s activities in marine conservation in the Pacific Ocean.
The IUCN Oceania Regional Office was established in Suva, Fiji in 2006 with the objective of enhancing access by Pacific island countries to technical and scientific expertise in conservation-related issues. | <urn:uuid:247239d3-6aa1-4fa3-959b-ad13acf0aedb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.iucn.org/news_homepage/news_by_date/2008_news/november_2008/?2243/IUCN-Marine-Programme-in-Oceania-Ramps-Up | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937999 | 381 | 1.742188 | 2 |
Longtime reader and new contributor Tyler Vandermeulen is a financial analyst by day. He took a deep dive into the EDGAR database to unearth how much of GM’s money flows abroad. Please welcome Tyler with the respect he deserves. Rude comments will not be tolerated.
Before the bailout of General Motors, it was well understood that the world’s largest automaker was losing huge amounts of money in the US and was staying afloat thanks to stronger performance in overseas markets. Since the bailout, however, that dynamic has been turned on its head. Thanks to a leaner manufacturing footprint, debt eliminations and steadily recovering sales, GM’s US operations have generated the lion’s share of the company’s profit since the bailout. And now, as the rest of the world economy slows, GM is spending more and more of its taxpayer-enhanced cash pile to shore up its faltering foreign divisions. In fact, according to an analysis of GM’s SEC filings, the company is likely to incur over $6.5 billion in losses and expenditures overseas in the 2011-2014 period, not counting over $1.6b in foreign potential legal liabilities or several other incalculable expenses that could add up to billions more. Not only are these expenses a challenge to GM’s overall financial health at a time when it also faces billion-dollar expenditures on pensions in the US, it shows the basic problem with national bailouts of global companies. Taxpayers who were told they were saving an American company are now seeing their tax dollars flowing overseas by the billions.
A full calculation of GM’s overseas expenditures since the bailout would be a daunting task indeed. Simply by scouring GM’s latest SEC filings, one finds no shortage of losses and one-time expenditures abroad. In fact, nearly every division of GM’s global empire has required some kind of assistance over the last year or so. These expenditures come in many forms, from tax assessments to investments, from bailouts to severance deals, and due to the complex nature of GM’s global finances they cannot be fully accounted with precision. But they all emphasize the reality that, after years of living off foreign operations, GM’s bailed-out North American division is now bailing out the rest of the world.
Europe: Black Hole Opel, Unions, PSA
GM’s European losses currently get the most attention from analysts, and are nothing new for The General, which has reportedly lost over $14b in Europe over the last decade. Those losses and expenditures continue to add up. In the two full years since GM decided to cancel a planned sale of its European division Opel, GM Europe’s losses have added up to $2.74 billion, with another $617m lost in the first half of 2012 (EBIT). Additional goodwill adjustments of $590m in the first half of 2012 and $621m in 2011 further added to the losses. Additionally, GM has spent some $313m on voluntary severance for European workers, and expects to spend another $100m on the same program through the end of next year. Finally, GM has an undisclosed agreement with European labor unions to spend as much as $265m per year between 2011 and 2014. The company has pledged some $406m in inventory as collateral for that agreement. Not counting the spending agreement with European unions, this puts GM’s losses and outlays on Opel and GME in the last two and a half years at more than $4.25 billion.
GM’s losses in Europe aren’t likely to end there. This year, GM spent $400 million on a 7% stake in Peugeot-Citroen PSA, an investment that GM admits has already lost value. GM says it plans to hold onto that stake for the long term, and has chosen not to write down that loss… yet. Just today, rumors surfaced that GM could spend even more money on its Peugeot tie-up, possibly providing capital for an Opel-PSA joint venture. Meanwhile, the worst-case scenario for Opel involves an estimated $13b outlay to shut down plants and prepare Opel for a sale, according to Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas. In this scenario, GM could spend as much as half of its cash pile extricating itself from its money-losing European operations.
GM losses and outlays in Europe, 2010-June 2012: $4.5b+
Asia: Korea Debt, Murky Hong Kong Dealings
GM’s Asian operations are consolidated as GM International Operations (GMIO), a division that includes Korea, China, Australia, India and other Asian markets. Prior to the bailout, GM’s Chinese operations were widely considered to be a major profit center for the company, while Korea has become increasingly important as a development center and India has potential for future growth. However, GMIO’s profitability has been weak in comparison to the revitalized North American division, generating just $400m in consolidated adjusted EBIT in the first half of 2012. And since 2011, GM has had several expenses associated with its Asian operations.
In 2011, GM spent $100m for 7% of its GM Korea subsidiary, increasing its holding to 77%. This year, GM has recorded a $27m Goodwill impairment related to its Korean operations, and has paid $22m to Korean workers as part of its severance program there. GM Korea also carries significant amounts of short-term and long-term debt to Korean creditors that GM will have to pay down.
More puzzling is GM’s strange Indian joint venture with its Chinese partner SAIC. In late 2009, GM rolled its Indian operations into a 50-50 joint venture with SAIC, known as the Hong Kong Joint Venture, or HKJV. By the first quarter of 2011, that venture had lost enough value for GM to record an impairment of $39m and “other charges totaling $67m.” From there things get strange. According to GM’s 10-Q:
“We were informed of SAIC-HK’s intent to exercise its right to not participate in future capital injections in HKJV. If this occurs we plan to settle the promissory note in the three months ending September 30, 2012 and provide an additional equity investment of $125 million into HKJV. As a result SAIC-HK’s interest in HKJV would be diluted from 50% to 9%. We also anticipate that the shareholders agreement would be amended such that we obtain control of and consolidate HKJV.”
It would seem that GM is buying its partner out of the Indian arrangement at a cost of $125m, however, GM has had several convoluted transactions with SAIC in the past, most notably in the sale of its “Golden Share” in the Shanghai-GM joint venture, which was offset by a Chinese bank loan and was eventually rolled back. It’s too early to say for sure whether GM will purchase the controlling stake in HKJV, and thereby regain full control of its India business. It is unlikely that SAIC will relinquish its grip on India, just because it suddenly can’t service the capital requirements of the HKJV. Possibly, more information will become available when GM files its Q3 paperwork, or possibly later. With some 30% of GM’s global sales in China, GM shareholders deserve more visibility into this byzantine part of GM’s world.
GM Outlays on GMIO, 2011-2012: ~$380m
South America: Tax Assessments
GM’s South American unit dipped into the red in the second quarter of this year, and its $64m net EBIT through the first half of 2012 is just $7m better than its Q1 2011 performance alone. But even if GMSA’s performance improves this year, it has paid out around $100m this year between the purchase of GMAC’s Venezuelan financing operation and a worker severance program in Brazil. $700m was also spent in 2011 to retire debt facilities at GMSA. Furthermore, GM has run into several tax assessments in South America, including a $292m assessment for the years 2002-2004 by the Mexican government and a $180m assessment for 2007 by the Brazilian government. GM says it has “adequate reserves” to meet these obligations, but notes:
“Certain South American income and indirect tax-related administrative proceedings may require that we deposit funds in escrow or make payments which may range up to $0.9 billion.”
GM Outlays in South America, 2011-2012: ~$1.7b
Due to the unpredictable nature of legal disputes, the amount of overseas legal liability carried by GM may not result in actual expenditures. That said, the following legal liabilities are noted in GM’s SEC filings:
Settlement of class action suits regarding Canadian pricing policy: $21m
GM Canada “Lock up agreement” lawsuit: potential liability $918m
Korean labor law suit: $152m in accrual, $556m in further potential liability.
Potential overseas legal liability: ~$1.65b
Without including potential liability costs or the more inevitable costs associated with Opel’s restructuring, GM has spent or lost in excess of $6.5b overseas in the last 30 months or so. With more losses and expenses coming, taxpayers can expect to see their investment in GM’s North American operations continue to support a steady flow of cash to GM’s overseas operations. Perhaps taxpayers should have been told that they weren’t simply bailing out an American automaker, but a variety of overseas operations as well. | <urn:uuid:cff36446-2169-4d3c-bf4f-00e40e5fc2fb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2012/10/how-the-gm-bailout-turned-into-foreign-aid/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967894 | 2,037 | 1.609375 | 2 |
Though there are still some snares and drawbacks for participants, one of the federal government’s most important financial relief efforts for underwater homeowners started operation on Nov. 1.
It’s a new short-sale program that targets the walking wounded among borrowers emerging from the housing downturn — owners who owe far more on their mortgages than their current home value but have stuck it out for years, resisted the temptation to strategically default, and never fell seriously behind on their monthly payments.
Industry estimates put the number of underwater owners across the country at just under 11 million, or 22 percent of all homes with a mortgage. Of these, approximately 4.6 million have loans that are owned or securitized by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. Eighty percent of these Fannie-Freddie borrowers, in turn, are current on their mortgage payments and meet the baseline eligibility test for the new short-sale effort.
Here’s how the program works and where the potential snares are. Traditionally short sales, where the lender agrees to accept less than the full amount owed and the house is sold to a new purchaser at a discounted price, are associated with extended periods of delinquency by the original owner. The new Fannie-Freddie program — designed by the companies’ overseer, the Federal Housing Finance Agency — breaks with tradition by allowing short sales for owners who are current on their payments but are encountering a hardship that could force them into default.
Say you are deeply underwater on your mortgage and recently lost your job or had your work hours reduced. Under the new program, you can contact your mortgage servicer and ask to participate in a Fannie-Freddie short sale for non-delinquent borrowers. You’ll need to find a qualified buyer for the house, typically with the help of a real estate broker or agent knowledgeable about short sales who will list the property and obtain an offer and communicate the details and documentation to the servicer. If the proposed short-sale package is acceptable, the deal would then proceed to closing weeks — or months — later.
Eligible hardships under the new program run the gamut: job loss or reduction in income; divorce or separation; death of a borrower or another wage earner who helps pay the mortgage; serious illness or disability; employment transfer of 50 miles or greater; natural or man-made disaster; a sudden increase in housing expenses beyond the borrower’s control; a business failure; and a you-name-it category called “other,” meaning a serious financial issue that isn’t one of the above.
Borrowers who take part in the new program can expect to rid themselves of the money-devouring albatross their mortgage has become — without going through the nightmares of foreclosure or bankruptcy — and to get a chance to start anew, better equipped to deal with the financial hardship that caused them to sell their house in the first place.
What about the snares in the program? There are several that participants need to consider.
• Credit score impacts. Though officials at the Federal Housing Finance Agency are working on possible solutions with the credit industry, at the moment it appears that borrowers who use the new program may be hit with significant penalties on their FICO credit scores of 150 points or more. This is because under current credit industry practices, short sales are lumped in with foreclosures. According to Laura Arce, a senior policy analyst at the agency, the government is in discussions with the credit industry to institute “a special comment code” for servicers who report the new Fannie-Freddie short sales to the national credit bureaus that would treat participants more fairly on FICO scores.
• Promissory notes and other “contributions.” In the majority of states where lenders can pursue deficiencies, Fannie and Freddie expect borrowers who have assets to either make upfront cash contributions covering some of the loan balance owed or sign a promissory note. This would be in exchange for an official “waiver” of the debt for credit reporting purposes, potentially producing a more favorable credit score for the sellers.
• Second lien hurdles. The program sets a $6,000 limit on what second lien holders — banks that have extended equity lines of credit or second mortgages on underwater properties — can collect out of the new short sales. Some banks, however, don’t consider this a sufficient amount, and may threaten to torpedo sales if they can’t somehow extract more.
Kenneth Harney is executive director of the National Real Estate Development Center. | <urn:uuid:97e54347-6b4c-4133-af74-1347c490e258> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/11/11/3089592/help-and-snares-for-the-wounded.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942774 | 947 | 1.757813 | 2 |
Visit Coloradoan.com for more photos from Black Friday shopping in Fort Collins.
For decades, U.S. stores have opened their doors for Christmas shopping early on the day after the Thanksgiving holiday. But this year, major chains such as Target ushered customers in on Thanksgiving itself, turning the country’s busiest shopping day of the year into a two-day affair.
Despite an outcry from some employees, both stores and shoppers seemed to like it. Some people went straight from the dinner table to the stores.
“I ate my turkey dinner and came right here,” said Rasheed Ali, a college student in New York City who bought a TV for $349 and a sewing machine for $50 when Target opened at 9 p.m. “Then I’m going home and eating more.”
This new approach could become a holiday tradition.
“This is going to be a new normal of how we shop,” said Jackie Fernandez, a retail expert at the consulting firm Deloitte.
It won’t be clear for a few days how many shoppers took advantage of the Thanksgiving hours. But about 17 percent of people said earlier this month that they planned to shop at stores that opened on Thanksgiving, according to an International Council of Shopping Centers-Goldman Sachs survey of 1,000 consumers.
Meanwhile, 33 percent intended to shop on Black Friday, down 1 percentage point from last year. Overall, it is estimated that sales on Black Friday — called that because it’s the day that stores traditionally move into making a profit for the year — will be up 3.8 percent to $11.4 billion this year, according to technology company ShopperTrak. It did not forecast sales from Thanksgiving Day.
The shift began in earnest a few years ago, when stores realized that sales alone weren’t enough to lure shoppers, especially with Americans becoming more comfortable buying things online. Opening on Thanksgiving was risky, with some employees and shoppers saying it was almost sacrilegious.
But many stores evidently felt they needed an edge, especially this season, when many Americans are worried about high unemployment and wondering whether Congress will be able to make a deal to avoid tax increases and deep spending cuts — called the “fiscal cliff” — in January.
Overall, the National Retail Federation estimates that sales in November and December will rise 4.1 percent this year to $586.1 billion, below last year’s 5.6 percent.
“Every retailer wants to beat everyone else,” said C. Britt Beemer, chairman of America’s Research Group, a firm based in Charleston, South Carolina. “Shoppers love it.”
At Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, most of its 4,000 U.S. namesake stores are already open 24 hours year-round. But the chain added special sales at 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving, two hours earlier than a year ago.
The company said its start to the holiday season was “the best ever,” with nearly 10 million transactions and 5,000 items sold per second from 8 p.m. to midnight on Thanksgiving.
Macy’s, which opened at midnight, had 12,000 customers wrapped around its store in midtown Manhattan.
Julie Hansen, a spokeswoman at Minneapolis’ Mall of America, the nation’s largest shopping center, reported that 30,000 shoppers showed up for the mall’s midnight opening, up from 20,000 last year. “This was additional dollars,” Hansen said. This year, 200 of the 520 mall tenants opened at midnight following Thanksgiving, double from a year ago.
To be sure, it’s not clear whether the longer hours will turn into extra dollars for retailers, or whether sales will simply be spread out over two days.
The Thanksgiving openings appeared to create two waves of shoppers — the late-nighters and the early birds.
Sam Chandler and his wife, Lori, started shopping at midnight on Thanksgiving. By the time they reached a Wal-Mart in South Carolina early Friday, they had already hit several stores.
“We’ve learned over the years, you have to stand in line early and pray,” Sam said. | <urn:uuid:1551c612-62af-4ae6-84dc-dbf5f9f66927> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.coloradoan.com/viewart/20121123/NEWS01/311230039/Happy-holidays-Now-let-s-go-Christmas-shopping?odyssey=mod_sectionstories | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955848 | 892 | 1.523438 | 2 |
New Mexico’s film incentives began under Republican Gov. Gary Johnson, but it was Gov. Bill Richardson who put them on the map.
Today, the film incentive program has two chief parts.
Most important are the rebates. These are what producer Ethan Coen was talking about when he told hollywood.com in 2007 that “we shot [No Country For Old Men], as everybody is in New Mexico now really for economic reasons.”
The rebates include a 25 percent refund on state taxes, such as personal income and gross receipts taxes, for qualified film productions. As a further enticement to producers, the state pays 50 percent of the hourly wages for New Mexico “trainees” in certain crew positions. That means labor here comes cheap for employers, even if the film crews make respectable union wages.
“This is a way for guys with high school educations to put a pair of boots on and go make 400 bucks in a day,” Hendry says. “That’s why [conservative critics] don’t like it.”
Like it or not, incentives did bring business to New Mexico. Though the state has not cracked the top 10 production states outside California and New York, according to the Motion Picture Association of America, New Mexico ranks third in terms of the film industry’s relative importance to the state's economy.
Back in 2001, Dekom says, “We had one full crew in New Mexico, and I think there’s one word to describe what it was like: unemployed.” As of 2007, nearly 1,700 people worked in film crews around the state.
Even those competing with New Mexico for movie business tip their hats to this state’s film program.
“Top notch,” Chris Stelly, Louisiana’s film and television director, calls his New Mexico counterparts. “We kinda got our scars together,” he says.
Times have changed since New Mexico and Louisiana’s programs got rolling. At the turn of the millennium, those two states, plus Oklahoma—and, of course, Canada—were the only states offering incentives.
Today, more than 40 other states offer deals to production companies. “Incentives are huge. They drive the business now,” Louisiana Office of Entertainment Industry Development spokeswoman Amber Havens says.
And as incentive programs have spread, there is a growing awareness that states have begun to undercut one another in the race for production business.
“The industry has been able to play off North Carolina against South Carolina against Louisiana against Georgia. Louisiana raises its incentives, and it puts pressure on South Carolina, North Carolina and other states to do likewise,” incentive critic and former North Carolina Supreme Court Justice Bob Orr told the Associated Press last week.
Michigan now offers tax rebates higher than New Mexico’s. Even California is getting in on the game, trying to reclaim some so-called runaway productions.
Is this a threat? New Mexico film industry figures put a brave face forward, citing the “stability” of the film program here and the strength of the talent pool.
“You want to shoot your picture in Iowa or Michigan? Go ahead; knock yourself out. I don’t care if they’re giving 50 percent back; there’s no crew there,” Hendry says. “We’re in the investment stage of a major business. Now we’re really starting to see the rewards. Other states have gone to 35 percent [rebates] to attract movies. We’re still attracting movies at 25 percent.”
Perhaps no one sells New Mexico’s production advantages—even against worldwide competition—better than state Film Office Director Lisa Strout.
“We’re doing better than LA this last year. They didn’t have any movies in LA—it was so dead—at a time when we had 10,” Strout says. “They passed an incentive, which is really funny: ‘Come home, little Sheba.’” | <urn:uuid:48c46d17-1d70-4a7d-bf77-f3d9cf09f851> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sfreporter.com/santafe/article-4561-starstruck.html?current_page=3 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955121 | 863 | 1.820313 | 2 |
Few experiences are so lovely as floating down the Piscataqua River under sail on a Gundalow. What is a Gundalow, you ask? It is that flat bottomed, lateen-rigged, sailing workhorse of the old Portsmouth seaport. With the launch of the new Gundalow, Piscataqua, you can now see first hand the wonders of sailing the river with its swift currents and shores teeming with nature, industry, cottages and rocky shores.
A few days ago, I sailed down river with Executive Director Molly Bolster and her Gundalow crew, led by Captain Matt Glenn. Leaving the dock at Prescott Park, Captain Matt used the motor to ease us into the main current of the river. Once clear, the crew placed a few volunteer passengers on halyard lines and we raised sail. Cutting the motor, Captain Matt let the river currents do most of the work just as the sailors did for generations. The sail was mostly a secondary source of power since the river is so swift. We drifted past the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard with its submarine pens and Coast Guard cutters on one side and Pierce Island Park on the other. Through the narrows of the river we got a close up view of the old Naval Prison which dates from 1908 and closed in 1974. Beyond the prison, we see the island village of New Castle with its lovely cottages and boats moored off the shore. On the opposite shore, Kittery Point comes into view with grand summer homes and fishing shacks as well. We returned under power, crossing through the pillars that once supported the old Memorial Bridge where you can see the reconstruction work. We waved at the people having drinks and dinner along the waterfront and then returned to dock at exactly 7:00 p.m.
Along the journey, the crew explains about the educational programs that the Gundalow offers to school groups. We draw water from the river to examine the microscopic plankton that keep the river alive and feed the larger marine life, all of which depend on our interest in keeping the river healthy. A portion of your ticket proceeds supports these education programs. The crew is happy to explain the boat, the river and local maritime history along the way. They will even let you steer the boat!
From Memorial Day to Columbus Day Weekend, the Gundalow will offer regular tours, three times a day, from Thursday through Sunday. The Morning Sail begins at 10:00 a.m. and the Afternoon Sail at 2:00 p.m. The Sunset Sail begins at 6:00 p.m. from May through July, 5:30 p.m. from August to September and at 5:00 p.m. to the end of season to accommodate the shorter daylight hours. All tours leave from the dock in Prescott Park between the Shaefe Warehouse and Mechanic Street and last 2 hours. Be sure to arrive 30 minutes before departure. Captain Matt is very prompt and the tour is no fun from the dockside!
Each Thursday, the Sunset Sail will feature either a lecture or live music to serenade your trip on the river. Tickets for the tours can be purchased online and cost $36 for a day sail and $41 for a sunset sail. Children ages 5 to 12 are welcome at a discounted rate. Tickets can also be bought at the offices at 60 Marcy Street across from Prescott Park.
It takes about 20 minutes to walk from the Martin Hill Inn to the Gundalow, or it is a short drive and there is public parking at Prescott Park and at Pierce Island. The Inn can book your sail for you, if you wish, just speak to the Innkeeper. Bon Voyage!
This was our 12th visit to the Inn and we keep returning! The Inn is an old beautiful building and the rooms are extremely clean and comfortable with lovely furnishings. A delicious breakfast was served every morning... | <urn:uuid:74c105dd-70ce-4e20-a298-e419033bcedb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.martinhillinn.com/2012/05/gundalow-sail-portsmouth-nh-sail.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958375 | 800 | 1.71875 | 2 |
AUTOMOTIVE manufacturing in Sunderland is thriving. Since Nissan chose the city for its European base over 25 years ago, Sunderland has developed world-class facilities, broken production records and attracted a strong and growing supply chain of component manufacturers. More than 10,000 people now work in the sector.
This year has been an extraordinary one for Sunderland’s automotive sector. Nissan announced earlier this year that both its Invitation model and its new hatchback will be produced at its Sunderland plant. Once production of the two models begins, it is estimated the Sunderland workforce will stand at a record 6,225 by 2014. It will also bring the annual output to more than 550,000 vehicles.
UK manufacturing bases
World-leading automotive components companies have also made the decision to locate at Sunderland or expand their bases this year.
Lear Corporation led the series of announcements, when it decided to create its first UK foam manufacturing facility for vehicle seats at Sunderland. More than 300 new job opportunities are to be created in the city as a result. US-based Lear Corporation is one of the world’s leading automotive suppliers. It is initially supplying seating foam to support vehicle production at Nissan’s Sunderland plant.
Gideon Jewel, of Lear, said: “We’re impressed with the superb support we’ve had from Sunderland City Council’s business investment team, who have worked tirelessly to help bring about the major new investment and new jobs to the city.”
The good news continued with France-based Financière SNOP Dunois (FSD) Group announcing that it was setting up its UK manufacturing base in Sunderland, investing millions of pounds in converting the former TRW Valves facility at Washington into a base for its automotive body parts production. More than 130 new job opportunities are to be created within two years.
SNOP UK supplies body parts for Nissan. The 14,000 square metres factory will hold 30 robotic cells, stamping and assembly presses to create over 90 automotive body parts.
Only weeks later, Vantec Europe announced that it intends to invest £22.5m in a 421,000 sq ft building at Turbine Business Park, Sunderland, contributing towards 230 jobs by 2015. This will be the first development in the UK to get under way from the latest round of Enterprise Zones.
Vantec’s £22.5m investment is the largest investment ever made by the company during its 20 years in the North East, and is further commitment by Vantec Corporation, Japan, of supporting the expansion of global automotive logistics.
Vantec Europe provides warehousing and logistics to Nissan Sunderland, Komatsu UK, Birtley and Cummins Engines, Darlington. The new building will complement Vantec’s existing 148,000 sq ft warehouse at Cherry Blossom Way in Sunderland.
Unipres, which supplies parts to both Nissan and Honda, announced in March that £5m from the Regional Growth Fund will develop the firm’s Washington plant and create and protect 316 jobs – with a further 50 in the supply chain.
In April, Calsonic Kansei, a supplier to Nissan, joined the chorus of good news by announcing that it is investing £15.3m at its Sunderland site, creating more than 140 new jobs.
The strengths of Sunderland for the automotive sector rest not only in the strength of Nissan, but also in the city’s highly skilled, willing and ambitious workforce. Nissan is one of the best plants in Europe for labour productivity.
The region’s colleges and universities offer a comprehensive, and often leading-edge, range of automotive skills training courses, including the UK’s first automotive design degree at the University of Sunderland, first dedicated low carbon training centre and the Institute for Automotive Advanced Practice.
Designated the UK’s first Low Carbon Economic Area in 2009, the North East area leads the country in ultra-low carbon vehicle manufacture with both Nissan and Smith Electric Vehicles pioneering research and production. Nissan is investing £420m into the manufacturing of its 100% electric Nissan LEAF at its Sunderland plant, along with the company’s first lithium-ion battery plant outside Japan.
The pace of positive news this year is proof that Sunderland City Council’s active, enabling approach works well for automotive companies in Sunderland.
As Trevor Mann, Nissan’s senior vice president for global supply chain management and operating committee – Africa, Middle East and India, said: “Sunderland City Council has a good international feel for how to work with global companies.”
Councillor Paul Watson, leader of Sunderland City Council said: “This is turning out to be an outstanding year for investment by automotive companies in Sunderland.
“The strong vote of confidence in our city as the UK’s automotive hub from world-leading automotive manufacturers is great news for the region and for the UK. It recognises our exceptional package of location, infrastructure, connectivity and experienced, skilled people.”
Sunderland City Council has a good international feel for how to work with global companies | <urn:uuid:ff04b7f3-1768-42ad-ae76-6d3f145aa692> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nebusiness.co.uk/business-news/2020-vision/2012/06/13/nissan-is-driving-growth-to-sunderland-51140-31167655/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934482 | 1,052 | 1.515625 | 2 |
AVR Butterfly walking robot
Figurassa have built simple humanoid robot called Little Brother. The idea was to build cheap humanoid robot which walks. So he managed to do this for less than $70.
He have chosen interesting way to make robo walk. He managed to carry robot mass center from one leg to another. This allows to move free leg forward. Simple but it works. Robot central brain is AVR Butterfly kit with three servos attached. Robot body is a product of imagination . Author used old CD-R and some aluminium. Robot code is developed under Linux AVR-GCC and can be found here. | <urn:uuid:a15dd654-75aa-441f-9885-bf4a809fd97e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.embedds.com/2007/08/14/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948009 | 129 | 1.820313 | 2 |
When Fredonia wrestler Dakota Gardner was in seventh grade, he told coach Alex Conti his goal was to be an Olympic wrestler.
Gardner, now a freshman at Fredonia, has all the tools to pursue that dream.
Unfortunately, on Tuesday, the International Olympic Committee announced plans to eliminate the sport from the Olympic Games in 2020.
"Dakota Gardner has the Olympic dream," Conti said. "He wrestles like crazy. He has the genetic ability. He is at that age where 2020 affects him. He will be 23 when 2020 rolls around. That's the guy it affects. He has that Olympic dream. He has had it since he was a seventh grader. That right there tells you that people look at the Olympics."
The IOC's decision to eliminate wrestling from the 2020 Olympic Games has been met with heavy criticism over the past week.
Conti, who was an assistant coach for the USA women's freestyle wrestling squad at the 2012 Olympic Games in London, was equally as critical Friday night when discussing the IOC's decision.
"I can't believe the arrogance of the IOC to eliminate that sport the way they did," he said. "It was cowardly. If they are going to eliminate the sport, give some forewarning. I just find it cowardly and very, very unfair. To pull the sport is a disservice and I think it's going to have effects that can't be measured."
The decision could have a trickle down impact for college wrestling, high school wrestling and even youth wrestling. Without wrestling in the Olympics, if a student has scholarship offers for both baseball and wrestling, it would be easy for the student to decide on baseball since there is no chance at an Olympic opportunity in wrestling.
Eliminating wrestling from the Olympics will also give college athletic directors with tight budgets an excuse to cut the program.
"You talk about the trickle down, it's already tough to be the top guy to make it to the Olympics," Conti said. "Now to remove it all together, I have people who don't know anything about wrestling who are enraged by this. They ask the same questions. 'If they don't have the dream of being an Olympian, why would they compete in the sport?' If the parents can see it and say it, as a parent of wrestler, why wouldn't they convince their child to do something else? That's what I see happening. I feel so bad for those athletes. I can't express how heart wrenching it is."
The IOC's decision was unexpected, as not many knew what was coming.
"There might have been some people on the absolute inside that might have said we have to be ready because this is happening," Conti said. "The moment I heard it, I emailed Terry Snyder, who is head of women's wrestling in the U.S., and he did not know about it."
Wrestling is not one of the premier sports in America, but it is one of the top sports in Russia.
"When you go to Russia, they are superstars," Conti said. "American John Smith was a four-time world champion, two-time Olympic champion. He had six straight years of medals. But if he walks down the street, you wouldn't know him. In Russia or the Ukraine, if you're an Olympic medalist, you're like Tiger Woods. You are the hero of the country. They take care of you forever. That's the difference."
Though it is not official, and there is a chance for the games to return in 2024, it will have a big impact on wrestlers such as Gardner.
"If you don't make the 2016 Olympics, 2020 is your dream," Conti noted. "To have that dream taken away is not right. Even if they put it back in 2024, age becomes a factor. When you have the opportunity to work your craft and let the world see it on the grandest stage, it is the best. The IOC stole it away from these guys and girls and it's heartbreaking. I know how hard some of these people work. You see the heartache in their eyes when they lose the Olympic Trials. I can't imagine the heartache they will suffer with no Olympics. "The dream is squashed," Conti continued. "It's a sad, sad day. We are going to battle it. I believe we will have a platform and we will tell our story and show everyone why they should not cut it. I don't believe in the IOC. I don't believe they will do the right thing. I believe they will continue to do the popular thing and the thing that makes them the most money." | <urn:uuid:9f60412c-992b-4a59-8c13-b716db823292> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.observertoday.com/page/content.detail/id/581579.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.986953 | 960 | 1.71875 | 2 |
Air University Review, January-February 1982
Colonel Harold E. Johnson
With his omnipotent power, God also created man in His own image with the ability to think, to reason, and to learn. But in His human creation, the Good Lord must have included either some of His own shortcomings or purposefully have implanted weaknesses, for man makes many mistakes everyday.
One of the biggest mistakes we in the military make is that either we personally fail to learn from our lessons in combat or we are negligent in passing along those important, often lifesaving observations and discoveries to the following generation. Such a lesson lapse that greatly concerns me relates to the employment problems of the Wild Weasel surface-to-air missile (SAM) killer mission, especially when applied in the potential European theater of operations.
I was a crew member of the F-105F Wild Weasel "3" group that was sent to Southeast Asia in 1966 as a quick-reaction response to the SA-2 SAMs introduced by the communists into North Vietnam. The Wild Weasel project had been created to provide a counterblow against the more sophisticated air defense weapons that threatened our fighter-bombers flying interdiction missions over North Vietnam.
The program was originally named Operation Mongoose, but that was changed when it was discovered a World War II clandestine project had used the Mongoose title. The Weasel portion of the name was then selected because of the mission employment perceived by the original designers. The SAM killer aircraft were supposed to "weasel" their way into enemy territory at low altitude, sniff out electronically the position of the SAM sites, and effectively mark those sites so that accompanying bomb-laden fighter-bombers could visually acquire and destroy them. The Wild portion of the name reflected not only the atmosphere of the type mission being flown but also accurately described the personalities and attitudes of the crew members who volunteered to fly such missions. In fact, the term Bear originated as a result of the observed aggressive behavior of the electronic warfare officers (EWOs) handpicked to fly in the back seat of the specially retrofitted F-105F aircraft.
Major Milt Rickman, of the 357th Tactical Fighter Squadron, while attending an F-105 squadron 100-mission party in the USAF officers club at Takhli Air Base, Thailand, in 1966, paid a tongue-in-cheek compliment of recognition to these strange green-electron talking, funny-winged additions to the formerly all-single-seat fighter pilot organizations:
Do you remember the shooting gallery section in the arcades of the amusement parks? If so, you undoubtedly remember the electronic rifle apparatus that had a large bear running back and forth at the end. Every time you hit him, the bear would stop running, rear up on his hind legs, and roar before turning about and continuing on. Well, thats what these EWOs flying against the SAMs up North remind me of. Every time the SAMs fire at them, youll see the EWO put his paws up on the back seat canopy rail and roar defiantly at the missiles as they whiz by his aircraft. So instead of GIBs (guys in back), as weve always called them, I propose to rename our Wild Weasel EWOs "Bears."
A deafening table-banging and shouting din of approval immediately followed his proposal, and use of the term quickly spread. Thereafter, a Wild Weasel pilot was commonly chided with comments about the antics or whereabouts of his "trained bear."
The wing commanders at the F-105 bases of Takhli and Korat, Thailand, where the first Weasel mission aircraft were introduced, had differing views about how such special mission resources should be organized and implemented. Since they had only general guidelines, the theater commanders were free to ad-lib with their use of the limited Wild Weasel resources. The originally intended mission employment of trolling for and killing SAM sites was never implemented. Instead, the Wild Weasel aircraft were thrust into the lead flight of all deep-penetrating fighter-bomber force missions to act as what became known as "Iron Hand" SAM suppression flights. The Weasel four-ship flights were always the first in and last out during all fighter-bomber attacks in the high density SAM, AAA, and MiG defended areas of North Vietnam. It was not unusual for newly arrived Weasel crews to find themselves in the lead aircraft of the lead flight supporting a full 24 aircraft fighter-bomber strike against a prime, heavily defended target close to Hanoi on their very first mission. If the average 18- to 24-minute exposure time over the target area was survived, this was true baptism under fire, but the resulting loss of almost 50 percent of the Weasel aircraft and crews made the stateside training of replacement crews and the retrofitting of replacement aircraft very difficult to keep up with. Those Weasel crews that survived added techniques for further survival and successful attack against the SAMs to their repertoire with each completed mission.
Vital lessons were learned quickly. First, it was discovered that one should never fly against the SAMs either through weather or above a solid cloud layer. The SAM acquisition radar could detect an aircraft clearly and fire at will. Even though the Bear knew what the SAM site was doing, when missiles were fired, the Weasel flight was limited as to what counter actions it could take. It was necessary to see the missiles coming at you as soon as possible to evade them effectively, so flying in or over weather was a definite handicap. Second, it was essential to stay low and fly fast when dueling with a SAM site in the heavy SAM/AAA environment. The aircraft had to be kept moving about rapidly (jinking) to complicate the SAMs intercept; the surrounding terrain had to be utilized appropriately to mask the flight from the SAM radar until the Weasel flight was in a position to kill the SAM site.
Another lesson was learned soon after introduction of the wing-positioned, self-generating jamming pods. When jamming was introduced close to the F-105F Weasel, or emitted by that aircraft itself, the skills of the Bear to monitor and interpret the SAM activity and enemy electronic environment were rendered completely useless. His electronic radiation receivers, radar homing and warning (RHAW) gear and audio receiver (music signals) were all obliterated. Many arguments were offered in defense of jammers in the Weasel flight primarily because it seemed to offer some sort of magical security-blanket-type support. I am of the opposite opinion, however. From my experience in the Weasel hunter-killer role, if the EWO was an effective, confident operator, the attachment of jammers either in the flight or to the lead two-seat aircraft was, and is, so much excess baggage. The Weasel aircraft should be either a SAM killer or a jammer. I am not convinced that it needs to be both.
The weapons used against the SAM sites by the F- 105F Weasel aircraft evolved rapidly as new ideas were tried or new systems became available. In the beginning, 2.75-inch rockets coupled with a 20 mm Gatling gun strafe on the same pass were used to mark the SAM site position for the accompanying three F-105Ds, each armed with six 750-pound bombs. Later the Shrike missile and cluster bomb units (CBUs) adding lethality to the attack, replaced the 2.75 rocket pods. Follow-on Shrikes and some Standard Arm missiles were implemented as they were made available.
Introduction of the F-4 as a Wild Weasel aircraft involves a complicated story that deserves full coverage in a separate discussion. Basically, the first attempted conversion of the F-4 as Wild Weasel "4" began in 1966 but was soon abandoned for many reasons, e.g., the incompatibility of electronic gear to the F-4 system and the requirement to use pilots in the back seat instead of EWOs. The F-4G was eventually designed and retrofitted to fulfill the role as the primary USAF Wild Weasel aircraft in 1976. Most of the F-105F or two-seat Wild Weasels have since been transferred to the National Guard.
Thus, it is obvious today that Wild Weasel aircraft and crews are a critical, limited resource. Their effective utility in any conflict is an accepted probability. Even standard computerized war games produce a positive probability of success factor for other flight operations when Wild Weasels are simulated to accompany the attacking forces. Therefore, it seems logical that Weasel operations, aircraft, crews, and weapons will be a viable, on-going consideration in future USAF war-fighting plans. Yet I am gravely concerned about the continuing ability of the USAF to employ or support SAM killer missions effectively. There appears to be an increased emphasis on standoff jamming in lieu of the hunter-killer option, but perhaps both alternatives provide balance for opposition to and defeat of the enemy SAM threat.
More Wild Weasel aircraft are needed, but at present the program seems stagnant. I do not intend to discuss classified details, but I perceive that the employment considerations of the F-4G Wild Weasel are reminiscent of our beginning utilization over North Vietnam. In fact, the weapons designated for use on the SAM killer mission appear less flexible now than in those days. I shudder to think of the loss rate that could be experienced by this critical resource in the NATO arena where a five-to-10,000-foot cloud layer plants itself much of the time. The Weasels will have no choice other than to fly their missions in this foul weather. The mortality rate of the Wild Weasel forces escorting interdiction flights across the heavy SAM-ZSU-23/4-infested forward edge of the battle area (FEBA) could be devastating. Unless the Weasels were tasked specific missions to engage and neutralize this standard Soviet/Warsaw Pact FEBA SAM support, they would be free to engage the Weasels and the aircraft being escorted to targets behind enemy lines. The fast-moving Wild Weasels need some help. They need a "ferret"!
Logic leads us to believe this help can be provided by specially equipped modifications of existing aircraft such as the two-seat A-10s or the F-15 Strike Eagle. These advanced aircraft coud be used in the FEBA area SAM and ZSU-23/4 killer role. An EWO in the back seat equipped with up-to-date, state-of-the-art electronic receivers and RHAW gear could help to search out and destroy enemy SAMs and antiaircraft units positioned near and immediately behind the FEBA. As well as adding a positive dimension to the SAM killer force, two-seat A-l0s or Strike Eagle F-15s would bring unique qualities to the mission. A-l0s, designed to fly and fight at a very low altitude, could play a secondary role in destroying tanks. Imagine the versatility of a "Thunderhog Ferret"! F-15s, with engines and design features suited to higher altitudes, would still retain significant air-to-air as well as interdiction capabilities.
The Wild Weasel contribution to the overall mission has been vital since the hottest and darkest days of the air war against Vietnam. In a future conflict the U.S. Air Force may face an enemy with numerical superiority in the air and enough SAMs to achieve air deniability from the ground. To meet these challenges, the Air Force must be flexible and dynamic in its approach to the SAM suppression mission so that our aviators can continue to say, "Yea though I fly through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no enemy; for thou, Wild Weasel, art with me."
MacDill AFB, Florida
Colonel Harold E. Johnson(B.A., University of Louisville; M.A., Auburn University) is Chief, Programs and Policy Branch, J-3 Section, Readiness Command, MacDill AFB, Florida. He served three years as a member of the directing staff at the Royal Air Forces Staff College at Bracknell, England. Colonel Johnson is a graduate of Squadron Officer School, Air Command and Staff College, and Air War College.
DisclaimerThe conclusions and opinions expressed in this document are those of the author cultivated in the freedom of expression, academic environment of Air University. They do not reflect the official position of the U.S. Government, Department of Defense, the United States Air Force or the Air University.
Air & Space Power Home Page | Feedback? Email the Editor | <urn:uuid:c5361409-88bc-4123-ad99-2a8d776d6078> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.airpower.maxwell.af.mil/airchronicles/aureview/1982/jan-feb/hjohnson.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967729 | 2,596 | 1.710938 | 2 |
Barring an actual way-back machine, then-and-now photography is a pretty decent method of time travel.
If history is simply a chronicle of change, then this technique - taking historic photos and shooting new photos from the same spot - is one of the purest ways of illustrating it.
A new photo book, "Washington Then & Now," by Paul Dorpat and Jean Sherrard (Westcliffe Publishers, $45) holds special interest to Inland Northwest residents for one surprising reason:
The book is not Seattle-centric.
"We didn't do too much in Seattle at all," said co-author Dorpat. "Seattle's been covered - the heck with it."
This is surprising, considering that Dorpat is well-known as the author of the Seattle Times' Now & Then column, which has run every Sunday for 26 years.
Yet Dorpat, it turns out, grew up in Spokane, attended Lewis and Clark High School and graduated from Whitworth College in 1963. Co-author/photographer Sherrard also is a Whitworth alumnus, now living on the West Side.
So Eastern Washington is surprisingly well-represented, with images of Davenport, Tekoa, Ritzville, Pullman, Waitsburg, Brewster and Steptoe Butte, just to name a few.
"I love the scablands - and you can quote me on that," said Dorpat.
Dorpat and Sherrard devote just as many pages - eight - to Spokane as they do to Seattle.
Their goal was to chronicle every side of Washington, not just the populous I-5 corridor. Sherrard, who shot most of the contemporary photos, said the beauty of Washington resides largely in its "extraordinary variety."
Also, they were partial to Eastern Washington for a practical reason.
"Taking the repeat (contemporary) photos on the 'Wet Side' is tough, because either vast quantities of timber have grown up or things have rotted away," said Sherrard. "But when we crossed the mountains, 100 years ago is not so long."
The basic concept of "repeat photography" is simple: Find an interesting historic photo, then go and stand in the spot where that long-ago photographer stood.
"There's something strange and wonderful about it," said Sherrard. "You're standing in the footsteps of Asahel Curtis (a famed Washington photographer). If you can see that rock line up just the way it did for Curtis, there's a satisfying kerchunk where everything drops into place."
Yet every photo presents unique problems. The fog may have rolled in. Old landmarks may have disappeared. Extensive research is often required just to figure out where the photo was shot.
Sherrard, armed with a 10-foot extension pole for elevating the camera above the bushes that have grown up over a century, drove around the state shooting most of the photos. Dorpat did the research from his Seattle home. | <urn:uuid:f7e40c16-3a59-4378-901f-32acd2214cb0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.imaginginfo.com/web/online/Industry-News/Go-Back-In-Time-With-New-Book-Washington-Then-and-Now/4$2714 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953455 | 624 | 1.789063 | 2 |
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This will be one of the plots to appear on MTV's newest reality show, The Paper, a series about a high school newspaper, set for an eight-episode run in the first quarter of 2008.
The Circuit, operated and managed by 60 students and faculty adviser Rhonda Weiss, reports on Cypress Bay High School in Weston, Florida. The paper comes out seven times a year, skipping January because of winter break.
MTV's relationship with the paper started when one of Mrs. Weiss's student's friend's mothers (how most things seem to happen in this business) saw a post for auditions. The mother told the student, knowing he was on the newspaper staff. The editors prepared a video, and before they knew it, MTV came down to Florida to shoot the pilot.
"We are a very local, boisterous group," says Weiss, an English and journalism teacher who has been the paper's adviser for six years. "Our high school is the largest in the country and our staff is very large. I can't compare us to other schools' [newspapers], but we probably looked a little insane when they saw what was going on in the room."
The pilot focuses on picking the editorial positions for the following year and the drama that goes along with it. Since Cypress Bay High is large and competitive, these students see an editor title, in part, as a means to an end for getting into a great college. The paper's first editor-in-chief went to Cornell; last year's editor is attending George Washington University with aspirations of becoming a political speechwriter.
A good high school journalist is "someone who is independent, takes initiative, isn't afraid to talk to people and ask tough questions -- so they need a bit of an outgoing personality -- and is a good writer (the most important part)," says Weiss, who was the editor-in-chief of her high school newspaper.
Six thousand color copies of the 32-page paper are printed each month, so the writers and editors have to be rock stars. "My students have done stories where they interviewed school board members, county members, and really gone up the ranks," Weiss says. And while the school pays Weiss' salary and supplements the paper, covering costs that advertisements do not pay for, The Circuit has editorial freedom.
|One kid wrote such a provocative editorial on immigration that he received death threats.|
But, like any rock band, problems can arise and MTV will have their cameras rolling. Two of the editors are dating. The ups and downs of that relationship at any given time bleeds into their newspaper life. The show's executive producer, Marshall Eisen, wants to focus on the conflict between work and life outside the paper. "They are so committed to the paper that much of their personal lives are shaped by what they do on it," he said in a recent telephone interview. "It is such a time commitment it effects everything else they do in their lives."
Eisen worked on his junior-high newspaper, but admits that it certainly pales in comparison to The Circuit's operation. One kid -- yes, they are still kids -- wrote such a provocative editorial on immigration that he received death threats. However, between acting like Lou Dobbs and undergoing the demands for excellence, each staff member has to study for tests, apply to colleges, and decide if time allows involvement in other school activities.
MTV's executives have high hopes that the show will break new ground in the crowded high school reality show market. "With The Paper we dive into a rarely seen side of High School life -- showcasing the dynamic and surprisingly intense life of students working on their high school newspaper," Dave Sirulnick, executive vice president of MTV News and Docs, wrote in a statement. Newspapers are "a subset entirely ignored in teen movies and TV," Weiss says. "When you think of teen movies or teen cliques, you think of the band kids, the athletes, the cheerleaders, whatever, but the newspaper kids are a group like any other, but are different from any other. [They aren't] a stereotype of what you see in teen movies."
The Paper will have elements of typical high school based entertainment coupled with real life (read: adult) reality. What Eisen found most surprising during the filming of the pilot was the amount of office politics. "It is really no different than any other high power competitive work place in how they manage and deal with each other and compete and support," he said. "They are all just crammed into this one big room, so all of it just played out in front of your eyes."
Neither Weiss nor her students have seen the pilot or any final product. "They are keeping us in the dark about it, which is a little nerve-racking," she admits. "I am excited, but a little nervous to see how we are really presented. From my point of view, I am hoping it shines a spotlight on high school journalism and that journalism is a noble pursuit."
Of course, how viewers will react is still up in the air. Weiss thinks MTV made "an incredibly brilliant decision," although as any good journalist adviser would teach, she adds, "but, I am biased."
The best advice Weiss gives to her students is: "Separate yourself from the story. It's about what other people are doing. It's not all about you being mad the lunch line is too long." She instructs the budding journalists to remember, "As the journalist, you are not the story." That advice seems ironic, now that the cameras are turned on The Circuit's staff.
|Eric Kuhn is a junior at Hamilton College, majoring in Government, but has already made a name for himself in print, television, radio, and podcasts. He is a Huffington Post contributor, the co-editor of PBase Magazine, an international online magazine, host of the radio show and podcast Kuhn & Company, and the editor-at-large of his school newspaper. Eric has interned for NBC News Digital Media, MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews, and The CBS Evening News with Katie Couric, and has published numerous articles and blog posts on MSNBC.com and CBSNews.com. To find out more, visit him online. |
Full disclosure: Kuhn has been consistently involved in his school newspapers -- from The Farragut Times (middle school) and The Buzzer (high school) to The Spectator (college) -- since 5th grade. | <urn:uuid:f2f3be6e-cc97-4865-b18e-84c11e8dc28d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mediabistro.com/articles/print.asp?aID=9950 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978221 | 1,386 | 1.757813 | 2 |
Lessons In Your Home
Throughout the years, we have come to believe that our lessons are most appreciated in your home. We teach all styles and levels of music education. Whether you are five or seventy-five, music lessons will always enhance your life. Our young students enjoy recitals, performing, and sharing music. Some students decide to study music as a profession.
About The Lessons
Sessions are 30-60 minutes in length. We come to your home at a scheduled time. Determining your lesson time is easy because your availability is our priority.
A Message from Our Founder
Hello, I am Jay Maurice and I would like to share the Lessons In Your Home experience. Something special happens after a student begins to learn an instrument, there suddenly is a new dynamic in the house, "it's music." After a short time the teacher feels more like family than a teacher. In turn you the student become part of our family.
The young student learns within seeing and listening distance of his or her parents. So many parents tell us how special it is to share in their child's learning environment, and as opposed to the lessons taking place in some room at a music store, your home becomes a conservatory. Family and neighbors all become supporters of your student's musical growth.
Adults have the ultimate luxury, no travel, no time wasted, and the best lessons. Adults who have children in the house share something extra. A child learns so much from watching a parent learn. You'll give that to your loved ones. | <urn:uuid:42b7d234-6875-4c92-850b-f41509df659a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.lessonsinyourhome.net/home/index.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96641 | 314 | 1.835938 | 2 |
Air Products has signed a letter of intent with Eastman Chemical, Inc. to be a significant participant in a petroleum coke-fed gasification project planned by Eastman in the Gulf Coast.
In the project, which will be one of the first major solid-fuel gasification facilities in the Gulf Coast, Air Products will market hydrogen produced by the operation to its Gulf Coast hydrogen supply pipeline network and construct and operate new world-class air separation units to produce over 7,000 tons per day (TPD) of oxygen, essential to the gasifier operation.
Eastman intends to locate the $1.6 billion plant in Beaumont, Texas, where the company will make low-cost intermediate chemicals such as methanol, hydrogen and ammonia. Eastman expects the regulatory permit application process to begin later this year, and construction is expected to be under way by early 2009. Construction employment is expected to peak at 1,300-1,500 workers, with permanent employment expected to be approximately 250. Eastman expects to have an equity position of as much as 50 percent and to announce a co-investor in the near future.
"We are excited to be working with Eastman on this gasification project. The scope of this project integrates our two companies' core strengths and businesses. The combination of Eastman's gasification and chemical industry experience and Air Products' industrial gas and large project experience help to make the project attractive and viable," said Alex Masetti, vice president, Tonnage Gases North America for Air Products. "The gasification project and our involvement represent a unique opportunity for Air Products to provide our world-class ASU technology, key to the operation of the gasifier, and to supply our West Gulf Coast pipeline system with hydrogen generated from petroleum coke fuel. This source of hydrogen diversifies our feed for our pipeline network and, in combination with our multi-plant system, will continue to provide refiners with a very highly reliable supply of hydrogen to make environmentally beneficial cleaner burning transportation fuels."
"We have a long association with Air Products and look forward to continuing our successful relationship in this exciting new project," said David Gallaspy, director of Project Development for Eastman's gasification services.
Air Products' Gulf Coast pipeline network extends from the Houston Ship Channel in Texas to Lake Charles, La. The company's Mississippi River corridor pipeline reaches from Baton Rouge to Norco, La., and east of New Orleans. These pipeline networks provide very highly-reliable hydrogen supply to approximately 50 refinery and process industry customers. Air Products is committed to increasing the pipeline network size in a manner that is consistent with the needs of key refining and petrochemical customers.
Air Products serves customers in industrial, energy, technology and healthcare markets worldwide with a unique portfolio of atmospheric gases, process and specialty gases, performance materials, and equipment and services. Founded in 1940, Air Products has built leading positions in key growth markets such as semiconductor materials, refinery hydrogen, home healthcare services, natural gas liquefaction, and advanced coatings and adhesives.
Eastman manufactures and markets chemicals, fibers and plastics worldwide. It provides key differentiated coatings, adhesives and specialty plastics products; is the world's largest producer of PET polymers for packaging; and is a major supplier of cellulose acetate fibers. | <urn:uuid:e41c9ae4-cde7-4334-8db0-9c7494ecc281> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.downstreamtoday.com/(S(qexgrynnwm5cugaokxtx3day))/news/article.aspx?a_id=5066&AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936877 | 679 | 1.617188 | 2 |
Holiday Shopping Strategies
Our friend The Gift Therapist shares these tips for succesful, budget-friendly shopping:
1. Get organized! Clean out your wallet to include only the cash,
credit cards and photo identification that you will need to make your
purchases. Leave all unnecessary items at home to lighten your load, resist the urge
To overspend, and protect against loss or identity theft. Creating a
Separate shopping wallet is a simple and effective way to keep your lists, cash,
cards, and receipts organized.
2. Play it safe! Keep a detailed list of the credit/debit cards that
you keep in your shopping wallet in a safe place at your home. Be sure to
include the card name, account number and customer service phone number.
Should you loose your wallet or have it stolen, having quick access to this
information will save you valuable time and stress should this unfortunate
experience happen to you.
3. Pack a snack! The old rule "never go shopping hungry" still rings
true, especially while holiday shopping. During a long day of shopping,
keep you blood glucose balanced by nibbling on a granola snacks, protein bar,
or homemade trail mix. These are healthy and filling treats that will boost
your stamina, mood, and budget!
4. Dress for success! Beautify but simplify...you are on a mission
and must dress accordingly! Minimize your morning primping and select your
most comfortable clothes and sneakers to get the job done! Leave your
bulky coat in the car and rely on a fleece pull-over or hoodie to shield you
during your long walk to and from the parking lot. You can always tie your
hoodie around your waist later and still have two hands to manage all of your
5. Shop backwards! Buy the small gifts first and big gifts last. Find
great bargains by taking 10 minutes to browse the clearance racks first.
Challenge yourself to come in under budget. Applying your savings toward
The bigger purchases on your list, next year's gift budget or your favorite
The bills come in, and there's stress. The phone calls start to come, and there's stress. Dealing with debt can feel overwhelming. New research shows that women suffer greater anxiety, and have more difficulty coping with the stress that money trouble brings. You can't run and hide from it; you need to be honest with yourself and face it to get out of debt.
Mary Ann Demchak, an accredited financial counselor, and financial education and community outreach advocate with Clearview Federal Credit Union offers this advice:
• Your gross may look wonderful on paper, but if your net is less than your bills, there will be problems! The amount of major credit card debt is testament to that. Keep a spending diary to track expenses for one month to get a clear picture of what you really need "to live."
• Know what your net is and what you owe-this is a must! It's amazing how many people have no idea how much debt they are actually in. Do you keep a log of your revolving and installment debt? Keep a chart of what you owe, who you owe it to, the APR, and the due dates for each.
• Learn to distinguish between your wants and your needs. Before you make a purchase, think it through. Does it fit into your plan for debt reduction?
• Identify your personal goals. Where do you want to be financially in the next five years? How will you get there?
• Know what your options are. What resources are out there to help? Explore all options: your credit union, outside agencies that specialize in debt management and/or counseling, using your own methods.
• Commit to making positive changes in the way you live. If you stay on the same course you can't expect to get a different result!
• Save for the future as part of your basic financial routine. Saving is an important part of any healthy debt reduction plan.
• Create a plan and stick to it! Empower yourself to make a difference in your financial future.
Think it through
As family and life situations, your ideas about working outside of the home can change. Are you cut out for starting your own business? What kind of business might be right for you? What else should you be considering before starting your own business?
Click here to find out more about what you should be thinking about, and how to avoid problems when starting a new business.
> Business Considerations (pdf)
Get a plan
You want to get to the creative, fun part of running your business, but you can't get started without a formal plan.
Forcing yourself to focus on a business plan is essential to the success of your business.
> Print and Save Business Plan Guidelines (pdf)
with Clearview Federal Credit Union expert, Mary Ann Demczak
Talking about money is taboo in many families. Therefore, many kids grow up not realizing where the familiy's money comes from or how much the family has.
Financial experts agree that understanding cash and credit is important for building a sense of financial responsiblility in children. Remember that a solid financial education is one of the best tools you can give your children! It's something they'll use for the rest of their lives.
j: When's the best time to start teaching kids about money, and how should you start?
Mary Ann: You can introduce kids to coins at an early age, say 5 or 6, and encourage them to save their coins in a piggy bank. It's very important that kids learn to set goals in life-whether it's an academic goal, a sports goal or a financial goal. This is the first step to becoming financially responsible. Are they saving for the next DVD, or are they thinking long term and saving for college?
j: Should you open a savings account for your child?
Mary Ann: Yes. Once they've accumulated $25 or $50, have them open a savings account where they can make deposits. Take them to your credit union so they can make the deposit themselves, let them empty their piggy bank into the Coin Counter listen while the coins are being counted and let them proudly take their total slip to the teller window to make the deposit into "their" account-remember this is Their Money. Explain how money saved in this way will grow and that their $25 may be $28 before too long. This will help them understand the value of money and how it can work for you.
If they don't want to "part" with their cash and want to keep it at home, place a picture of the toy or boots, or school, whatever they want to save for, right on the piggy bank to remind them of what they are saving for. This may deter them from dipping in too often to buy less "important" stuff.
j: What about an allowance?
Mary Ann: If you think they're old enough for an allowance, explain what you expect them to pay for with their allowance. If you're just starting an allowance and are wondering what's appropriate, a good rule of thumb is $1 for their age. For example, a ten-year old would receive $10 a week. Even better, have them earn their allowance-doing chores, helping with laundry, cleaning their rooms, etc. Also, make sure you explain to them what they'll need to use their money for. For example, you may tell them that you'll continue to buy their clothes, but they'll need to buy their own video games. It's also a good idea to suggest that a percentage of their allowance be put into savings. It's never too early to start good savings habits. Teach them the Share-Save-Spend philosophy-get them into the habit of charitable giving, then put some into savings, but always let them spend some of it-consider a diet with absolutely no chocolate-you'll fail! Same with budgeting-if you can't spend any money on "fun"-you'll also fail.
j. What are some good ways to teach children about a budget?
Mary Ann: Kids can learn about goals and budgeting to reach them from the time they are about seven. The first step to any successful budget, whether you are 10 or 50, is to Track Your Spending. Once they receive their allowance, ask them to write down how they spend it.
Did they buy candy? Write it down, a movie, write it down. Then, when their money is all gone and they want to go to the mall, have them look at that list and discuss what they could've done differently with their allowance, how they might have saved up enough to buy that new necklace or video game at the mall.
A great way to teach younger kids about budgeting is to ask them to plan a family activity where they must stay within a certain dollar limit. You can tell them you only have $40 to spend on an activity for the family... then, have them come up with ideas that fit the budget.
If you have an older child with a job, teach them to budget by asking them to contribute to household costs for auto insurance or cell phone usage. You should also encourage them to put a percentage of their paycheck into a savings account. (Share-Save-Spend)
j. Many adults have trouble balancing a checkbook. Any advice for teaching children the skills needed to do that?
Mary Ann: Teaching kids to balance a checkbook can be a daunting task. You can start with young kids by giving them a checkbook register to use with their piggy bank. Every time they make a deposit or withdrawal from the pig, have them enter it into the register. Occasionally, you can have them open up the pig and check the contents against what they have marked in their register. Great way to introduce balancing.
Once your teenager gets their first job, have them open a checking account. Make it their responsibility to keep track of their transactions and encourage them to never spend more than what is in their account. Teach them to keep a register and to balance their statements every month.
j. We've talked about saving. What about spending? How can we teach our children to be smart spenders?
Mary Ann: The best advice is to lead by example. Explain the difference between needs and wants. Explain what you are doing when you pay by check or debit card and where the money is coming from. Explain that when you use a credit card, you're really just borrowing the money from someone else, and spending money you have not yet earned. And, that you have to pay back more money that what you borrow. One simple way to explain needs and wants is to take your child grocery shopping with you. Divide the list into "need" items and "want" items. Then explain that if you have enough money left after you buy the items you need, you may be able to buy some of the items you want.
If you start teaching some of these basic concepts at an early age, you'll lay the perfect foundation for a strong financial future for your kids. It's just as important for your child to learn about money as it is to earn it.
Mary Ann urges parents to get together, go to school board meetings, and let your school leaders know that you want Personal Finance to be a part of your school's curriculum. Write to your legislators and demand they pass legislation that requires Personal Finance be taught to your children before graduation. Only nine states currently have a law on the books and PA is not one of them.
Mary Ann sits on the Executive Committee of the National Youth Involvement Board which is a nationwide credit union organization advocating for Financial Literacy in schools and legislation across the country. | <urn:uuid:1bab51dd-39fa-46ce-991e-050275f33f25> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://jennifercares.com/hh_money.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964217 | 2,434 | 1.828125 | 2 |
Now that we’ve arrived in the Digital Age, we’re officially living in the future. With a few keyboard taps and a click of the mouse, you can turn up almost anything online. Eighty-one percent of American adults are now online and 91 percent of the time they’re hunting down specific information through a search engine, according to the Pew Research Center.
So how is this changing how designers learn about products and materials (or is it)? We spoke with a few design professionals to learn about their product research preferences—online and off—and what this means for the industry as a whole.
“I definitely think the younger generation goes straight to the internet,” says 23-year-old recent grad Rebecca Warren, an interior design consultant for Saxton Inc. in Des Moines, Iowa. Although Warren has a large material library within reach, she finds herself going online first and to the library second. “Usually, that’s where I jumpstart a project.”
She’s also noticed a divide among fellow staffers. When requesting samples, older designers tend to phone in fabric sample orders, while younger designers order them online (unless, of course, one option isn’t user friendly).
“If [a manufacturer] doesn’t have a functional website, I just skip them,” says Cyanna Goold, a 32-year-old interior designer with NBBJ in Seattle, Wash., who almost always researches products online first, then calls a rep for samples. “I don’t use catalogs at all unless I absolutely have to.”
“I’m still kind of the old-school mentality—I’d rather pull a binder off the shelf than look on the internet,” says Melissa Salamoff, president of Salamoff Design Studio in Burbank, Calif. Salamoff, who worked for a variety of large architecture firms for 15 years before starting her own design firm in 2010, doesn’t have much storage space, so she finds manufacturer websites helpful in narrowing down her product search before letting sample orders overtake her library. “I would never specify something without touching it and seeing it, but it’s impossible to keep your library stocked with the latest things,” she says.
“We still use catalogs and magazines, just not as much as we used to,” says Klas Eklof, a senior associate with MBH Architects in Alameda, Calif., who has been with the firm for 15 of his 20 years in the field. “Five years ago, looking online was 10 percent of the time. Now it’s maybe 60 [percent], but we haven’t reduced our in-house library,” which is constantly replenished with new catalogs and periodicals by a full-time librarian.
Although Eklof finds himself doing more product research online, it’s not always ideal. “It’s more of a shotgun approach, where you tend to hit some things you didn’t expect. Often that can be good, but it’s also a little less focused than going to my library or looking at catalogs.”
"I don't use catalogs at all unless I absolutely have to."To meet designers’ expectations, manufacturers are getting creative in how they distribute product information. NanaWall, a glass wall and door manufacturer, produces 120-page photo books with commercial, hospitality or residential design ideas, available in both digital and print formats. “It spurs a discussion,” says Matt Thomas, NanaWall systems marketing manager.
“Over the past year we’ve actually increased the amount of physical books we send out. People will flip through it online and then request the physical book for their archive.”
Ross Leonard, vice president of marketing for flooring manufacturer J+J/Invision, is finding that easy online access to product details is helpful in generating initial interest, but there’s still demand for physical catalogs. “Now, it’s expected that every major manufacturer every year or two is going to have a multi-page catalog,” says Leonard. “We wanted ours to stand out, to have more shelf life and tactile significance, so we made it a hardback edition.”
J+J/Invision’s Good Product Guide is available as a hard copy, PDF and a digital version on iTunes, with QR codes that allow users to order samples straight from their iPads. “As manufacturers, we can simplify the selection process because it’s all about saving time,” says Leonard. | <urn:uuid:9160aee4-3894-4b7f-a8ef-5fde209ee87c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.interiorsandsources.com/interior-design-news/interior-design-news-detail/articleid/15180/title/research-goes-digital.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946871 | 980 | 1.828125 | 2 |
District 11 hosts career fair for Compass students
Part of Sheba Coffey’s new job as a student learning advocate at Anoka-Hennepin School District 11’s Compass Programs includes bringing in speakers and resources about postsecondary options and employment.
To help meet this goal, Coffey, with support from the NorthWest Suburban Integration School District, hosted a career fair Dec. 7 for Compass and other Anoka-Hennepin students.
Compass helps meet the learning and behavior needs of students who are in transition because of change or crisis in their lives.
The intent of Compass is to maintain students’ academic progress while providing support and guidance to help them gain the stability and independence necessary to integrate successfully back into their neighborhood school.
According to Coffey, the goal of the career fair was to give students experience, exposure and direction.
More than 30 people participated in the career fair representing careers including law, cosmetology, athletic training, computers and manufacturing.
Compass staff helped prep students by showing videos of career fairs so they knew what one looked like and what to expect.
“We talked to them about introducing themselves, offering a firm handshake with eye contact, dressing appropriately, how important it is to make a great first impression, the importance of networking, being memorable, following up by using thank you cards and the importance of thanking them for their time,” Coffey said.
“In addition, the students have been role playing and doing research on the participating companies.”
Coffey hopes the experience helped students gain confidence in these types of situations, as well as sharpen their communication and interpersonal skills, she said.
It was also an opportunity to help students think about life after they leave Compass, according to Coffey.
“The takeaways that I hope the students will have are to think about what careers they might be interested in, learn what type of education is required as well as help guide them in choosing both careers, electives and life choices and to be open to the possibilities,” Coffey said.
“Students need to think of ways to maximize opportunities, make themselves valuable to employers and exhibit and practice leadership regularly.”
Coffey sees Compass students as smart and bursting with potential.
“Some students need to see the ‘big picture;’ whatever they are experiencing in life right now is temporary and their lives can be bigger and better than their wildest dreams as long as they work hard,” she said.
“In addition, it’s important for me that students realize they will have multiple careers in their life time, therefore they should be open to careers and ideas they may have never considered.”
For the adults taking part in the career fair, Coffey hopes they remembered what it was like when they were the students’ age and that they offered the students advice, encouragement and meaningful, valuable tips to help them prepare for careers, education and separate themselves from the competition.
Valerie Ingram, an investigator with the Internal Revenue Service, said she participated in the career fair because it’s always important to show students what careers are out there.
She was excited to share with students the different types of federal jobs and the work that she does, according to Ingram.
Ingram, who has a degree in accounting and a master’s in business administration, has been a criminal investigator for about eight years.
Scott Hoke, an outgoing Dayton City Councilor and a real estate and business attorney from Champlin, looked forward to talking with students about what it takes to get to be a lawyer.
“I will tell them that they need to get good grades, love to read and have a lot of discipline to go through seven or more years of college and law school,” Hoke said.
Bryan Krieger works in manufacturing for Medtronic in Brooklyn Center.
Krieger said his advice to students was to get an entry level job, have a good work ethic and work their way up.
He could speak to this because it’s what he’s done at Medtronic, according to Krieger.
“I started out as a contractor for Medtronic and then I got hired onto the second shift,” Krieger said.
“Medtronic offers a lot of educational and promotional opportunities. I was encouraged by management to go to school and be a leader on the floor.
“Hopefully I’ll keep on growing. Medtronic is an excellent company to work for.” | <urn:uuid:10c5a33f-4a17-4ad6-897f-22e45a3a9dc6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://pressnews.com/2012/12/27/district-11-hosts-career-fair-for-compass-students/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977105 | 957 | 1.828125 | 2 |
LOWELL -- Opponents of a plan by Boott Hydropower to replace the historic flashboard system at Pawtucket Dam got a glimmer of hope Tuesday, when a member of the national Advisory Council on Historic Preservation noted that after hearing from them, she had a new sense of the dam's significance.
"It's a part of what distinguishes this historic place from others," said Terry Guen, a Chicago-based council member who joined Chairman Wayne Donaldson and the council's Executive Director, John Fowler, in a public meeting at Boott Mills to discuss the issue.
While opposition to the plan has been ongoing, a Jan. 8 notification by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission that the Advisory Council had 45 calendar days to provide recommendations for action increased the urgency for opponents of the plan.
Boott Hydropower's plan, originally submitted in 2010 by parent company Enel North America in response to FERC's efforts to address area residents' concerns over flooding of the Merrimack River in 2006 and 2007, is to replace the dam within the Lowell National Historical Park with a crest gate and inflatable balloon-type bladders that regulate high-water flow over the dam.
In a letter submitted to the Advisory Council, Boott Hydropower Project Engineer Victor Engel, said over more than a dozen meetings, the company considered various mitigation proposals, including an offer to utilize construction methods in the new crest-gate system to minimize effects
Donaldson said the council's recommendations, due Feb. 22, are not binding, but FERC must consider them and respond before issuing a final ruling.
Among those at the meeting were Peter Aucella from the Lowell National Historical Park, Eileen Sobeck from the U.S. Department of the Interior, Rebecca Harris from the Boston office of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Amy Greenwood from the office of U.S. Rep. Niki Tsongas, Massachusetts Historical Commission Executive Director Brona Simon, Bob Gagnon from the Lowell Flood Owners Group, Janet Leggat and Fred Faust from the Lowell Heritage Partnership and Dinell Clark from the Williamsburg Condominiums Association.
"No resource in Lowell is more significant than the Falls itself," Faust said, who likened replacing the historic flashboard system to "taking the canyon out of the Grand Canyon."
Clark and Gagnon expressed concerns that the new system would lead to significant flooding.
"Enel wants to keep the dam full all the time to maximize profits at our expense," he said.
Sobeck said Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and the head of the National Park Service, John Jarvis, have visited the local park and have said preservation of its features is a high priority.
"Clean-energy development does not need to come at the expense of our unique historical character," Greenwood said. | <urn:uuid:436fb9fc-b754-41fe-a8bf-c8a2a42acff0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.lowellsun.com/guestcolumnists/ci_22528525/deadline-nears-recommendations-pawtucket-dam-flashboards | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94818 | 576 | 1.773438 | 2 |
Religious freedom 'declines markedly' in China
|Publisher||Radio Free Asia|
|Publication Date||30 July 2012|
|Cite as||Radio Free Asia, Religious freedom 'declines markedly' in China, 30 July 2012, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/5022283cc.html [accessed 25 May 2013]|
The US State Department hits out at China for its policies on Tibetan Buddhists and Uyghur Muslims in an annual report on global religious freedom.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks at the Carnegie Foundation in Washington after the release of the State Department's 2011 International Religious Freedom Report, July 30, 2012. AFP
China has suffered a sharp decline in religious freedom while Burma has made little progress on the issue despite democratic reforms, the U.S. State Department said in an annual report to American lawmakers.
It said that abuse of religious freedom remained a concern in Vietnam, including cases involving arrests, detentions, and convictions of religious practitioners.
The State Department's 2011 Religious Freedom Report that reviewed the situation across the globe last year slammed China, saying there was a "marked deterioration" in Beijing's respect for and protection of religious rights in the world's most populous nation.
It cited increased restrictions on Tibetan Buddhist monks and nuns and clampdowns on religious practices ahead of sensitive anniversaries, as well as "severe" repression of Muslim Uyghurs in the volatile Xinjiang region.
Burma, which ushered in a new, nominally civilian government in 2011, "took steps" during the year toward overcoming its legacy of "intense religious oppression," but continued to impose restrictions and monitor meetings by religious organizations, it said.
In Vietnam, authorities held religious prisoners, refused to allow churches to register, and harassed believers, the report said, amid calls by rights groups to President Barack Obama's administration to re-designate the country as a "Country of Particular Concern" – a label that the U.S. government gives to countries for ongoing, egregious violations of religious freedom.
At a briefing on the release of the report, Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious freedom Suzan Johnson Cook said that freedom of religion went "hand in hand" with freedoms of expression, speech, and assembly, and that governments in Asia and around the world had "misused" laws to restrict freedom of all three.
"Religious freedom is often the bellwether for other human rights," including freedom of expression, speech, and assembly, she said.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the "global picture" for religious freedom, with over a billion people worldwide living under governments that "systematically" repress people's beliefs, was "sobering."
"When it comes to this human right, this key feature of stable, secure, peaceful societies, the world is sliding backwards," she said, speaking at the Carnegie Center for International Peace after the report's release.
Chinese authorities' restrictions on religious practices among Tibetans and Uyghurs were "severe," the report said.
The State Department placed blame on authorities for stoking tensions that led to the recent wave of Tibetans setting themselves on fire in protest against Chinese rule.
"Official interference in the practice of these religious traditions exacerbated grievances and contributed to at least 12 self-immolations by Tibetans in 2011," the report said.
Further self-immolations this year – which brought the current total to 44 since 2009 – continue to demonstrate Tibetans' "desperation" under China's rule, Johnson Cook said.
In China's far northwestern Xinjiang region, home to the mostly Muslim Uyghur group, religious restrictions were closely tied to political repression, the report said.
The government's concern over "separatism, religious extremism, and terrorism" had contributed to restrictions on Muslims, with authorities "failing to distinguish between peaceful religious practice and criminal or terrorist activities," it said.
Outside of Tibet and Xinjiang, Chinese officials restricted the activities of both registered and unregistered groups, including members of underground Christian "house churches" and members of the Falun Gong spiritual movement, the report said.
Some Falun Gong adherents had reportedly been held in ankang psychiatric institutions, while authorities had raided house churches and confiscated Bibles, it said.
Individuals had been harassed or detained for assembling for worship, expressing their beliefs in public and private, and publishing religious texts, it added.
The U.S. had raised issues concerning house churches, Falun Gong, Uyghur Muslims, and Tibetan Buddhists, during talks at the U.S.-China Human Rights Dialogue in Washington last week, Johnson Cook said.
"That's a continuing conversation and we will not let up," she said.
The report slammed the Burmese government for marginalizing the Muslim Rohingya, a minority which has been at the center of deadly communal violence in western Burma's Rakhine state since June of this year.
"The government continued to refuse to recognize the Muslim Rohingya ethnic minority as citizens and imposed restrictions on their movement and marriage," it said.
At the same time, it praised Burma for the "limited" steps it took toward greater religious freedom during 2011, when a new government took power in the country after decades of rule under the former military junta.
Burma had eased some restrictions on building churches and had generally permitted followers of registered religious groups to worship as they chose, the report said.
But it had also "frequently limited religious freedom" and continued to impose restrictions on certain religious activities.
Some Buddhist monks arrested during the 2007 "Saffron Revolution" protest movement led by monasteries had been released, it said, but noted others remained in prison serving long sentences.
In Vietnam, government practices and "bureaucratic impediments" had restricted religious freedom in 2011, while reports of rights abuses remained at levels consistent to the year before, the State Department said.
Christians had faced particular challenges in the country, the report said, noting an incident of detainees being treated harshly after a protest over the closing of a cemetery in Con Dau parish.
Authorities had harassed individuals for their religious beliefs and some religious groups for their political activism, it added.
But it praised authorities for allowing new religious groups to register and for pursuing talks with the Vatican concerning the country's Catholic community.
The State Department praised Laos for a "slight trend" toward improvement in protection of religious rights through public education outreach in the provinces.
But it slammed local and district-level authorities for being lax in their enforcement of laws and policies protecting religious freedom.
Local authorities sometimes demonstrated suspicion of non-Buddhist communities and showed intolerance for minority groups, particularly Protestant Christians, it said.
Cambodia was one of the few Southeast Asian nations to stand out for relative tolerance of religious rights in 2011, the report said.
The State Department said there were no reports of abuses of religious freedom and few reports of societal abuses or discrimination based on religion last year.
"The constitution and other laws and policies protect religious freedom and, in practice, the government generally respected religious freedom," it said.
Religious freedom "simply does not exist" in isolated North Korea, the report said.
"Government policy continued to interfere with individuals' ability to choose and to manifest their religious beliefs," the report said.
Though little is known about the isolated country, some reports from refugees and defectors and missionaries indicated that North Koreans who had contact with foreigners or missionaries were subjected to harsh penalties, it said.
Reported by Rachel Vandenbrink. | <urn:uuid:5675d752-99db-4796-8619-c64188c2853f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.refworld.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/rwmain?page=type&type=COUNTRYNEWS&publisher=&coi=LAO&docid=5022283cc&skip=0 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962332 | 1,578 | 1.648438 | 2 |
The sergeant has been accused of secretly videotaping at least a dozen female cadets, sometimes when they were showering. The New York Times report follows a series of accounts in recent weeks about alleged sexual assaults within the military.
In the lead-up to Memorial Day this year, Marketplace and ProPublica have been investigating predatory lending to soldiers and their families. Now, we’ll host a live online discussion of the issues facing indebted military members, and the military units they serve in.
The Military Lending Act (implemented in 2007) was supposed to protect military members from exorbitant interest on small-dollar loans. It set a 36 percent APR cap and banned payday and title loans -- short-term high-cost cash loans that often got soldiers and their families into a deepening cycle of debt. And consumer advocates, as well as the military itself, credit the MLA with significantly reducing the availability of these types of predatory loans.
But, we looked at military bases in Georgia and elsewhere in the country, where storefront lenders still cluster just outside the gates -- title-pawn, pawn shops, and installment, all lending ‘to the military.’ We found national chains of non-bank finance companies are either restructuring their lending products to exploit gaps in the Military Lending Act -- extending the term of the loan, for instance -- or flagrantly violating the law. The plight of severely indebted soldiers continues to impact the military -- threatening soldier’s security clearances, taking up officers’ time and threatening the readiness of the force.
Help us answer a few questions in our next live chat (revisit our previous discussion on installment lending here):
- Are you a military member, or do you know a military member, who has gotten into financial trouble from predatory lending?
- Are soldiers paid enough to cover their living expenses, as well as financial emergencies?
- Why don’t more military members use the zero-interest emergency loans available from the Army and other services, to avoid predatory lenders?
- Do you think the Military Lending Act has made a difference in predatory lending to military members?
- Why are military members so vulnerable to predatory lenders -- outside the gates of bases, or online?
- Should members of the military be given more consumer protections from predatory payday and title lenders than the rest of the civilian population?
- Should the Military Lending Act (or similar loan bans and APR caps) be extended to all Americans?
Join us back here for a live discussion this Friday, May 24, at 11 a.m. PT/2 p.m. ET, with Marketplace's Mitchell Hartman and ProPublica's Paul Kiel.
While studying microorganisms on humans is not new, tracking fungi is. In a census of sorts, scientists checked the skin of healthy volunteers. They found an expansive ecosystem of silent inhabitants.
In 2011, police detained Ai Weiwei for 81 days. Now, he's released a song that's turned the experience into a heavy metal protest song, along with a dystopian nightmare video. The lyrics are explicit and angry. Ai says his music is for the many political prisoners who remain jailed. | <urn:uuid:1c663d28-dc6f-4ef5-81fc-a18d9d3ee924> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kbbi.org/aggregator/categories/4?page=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949341 | 650 | 1.789063 | 2 |
Jewish World Review Nov. 8, 1999 /27 Mar-Cheshvan, 5760
Prosecution in darkness
AROUND THE COUNTRY, 24 immigrants, most of them Muslim or of Arab
descent, are being detained -- that is, imprisoned -- by the Immigration
and Naturalization Service, which intends to deport them.
None of them, nor any of their lawyers, has been allowed to see the
evidence against them or to confront their accusers. This denial of
fundamental due process is justified on the grounds of national security.
In 1996, the president signed the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death
Penalty Act, which authorized secret evidence. A federal district judge in
Newark, N.J., William Walls, has now described this as "government
processes initiated and prosecuted in darkness." (The use of secret
evidence, however, goes back to the 1950s).
Although many active lawsuits, in various stages, are attacking this use of
secret evidence, Judge Walls is the first jurist to flatly declare the use of
such evidence unconstitutional.
His decision was in the case of Hany Mahmoud Kiareldeen, a Palestinian
who has been in this country for nine years, managed an electronics store
in New Jersey and is married to an American citizen.
First arrested for having an expired student visa, he later was accused of
meeting in his New Jersey home, a week before the 1993 World Trade
Center bombing, with one of the men convicted in that attack. He also was
accused of threatening to kill Attorney General Janet Reno.
The source of this classified evidence is the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task
Force. But, as Judge Walls has noted, the INS failed to produce any
witnesses -- either from the FBI or from the INS -- or "original source
material" in support of these charges. Therefore no witnesses could be
cross-examined at the hearings.
At the hearings, Kiareldeen produced witnesses and other evidence that he
was not living in the town where he is supposed to have met with bombing
conspirators. And an expert witness, Dr. Laurie Myleroie, appeared for
him. She is described by James Fox, former head of the FBI's New York
office, as "one of the world-class experts regarding Islam and the World
Trade Center bombing." She testified that no evidence showed that the
accused had any connection with that bombing.
The government's evidence, said the judge, failed "to satisfy the
constitutional standard of fundamental fairness." The INS -- part of the
Justice Department -- denied Kiareldeen's "due process right to confront
his accusers . . . even one person during his extended tour through the
INS's administrative procedures."
These due process protections, declared the judge, "must be extended to
all persons within the United States, citizens and resident aliens alike. . . .
Aliens, once legally admitted into the United States are entitled to the
shelter of the Constitution." The judge went even farther.
Even if the
government's reliance on secret evidence has been provably based on a
claim of national security, Judge Walls -- quoting from a District of
Columbia Court of Appeals decision, Rafeedie v. INS -- asked "whether
that government interest is so all-encompassing that it requires that the
petitioner be denied virtually every fundamental feature of due process."
In Rafeedie, Judge David Ginsburg noted in 1989 that the permanent
resident alien in that case, in this country for 14 years, was "like Joseph K.
in Kafka's 'The Trial' in that he could only prevail if he were able to rebut
evidence that he was not permitted to see."
Kiareldeen is now free after 19 months, but Judge Walls's decision that
secret evidence is unconstitutional applied only to the state of New Jersey.
The INS did not pursue its appeal because it wants to avoid a Supreme
Court decision. The INS continues to insist it will keep on using secret
One of the victims of these prosecutions in darkness still in prison is Nasser
Ahmed, who has been in INS detention for 3 1/2 years.
Congress has the power to bring in the sunlight by passing the Secret
Evidence Repeal Act of 1999 (H.R. 2121) -- introduced in June by Rep.
David Bonior (D-Mich.). It would "abolish the use of secret evidence in
American courts and reaffirm the Fifth Amendment's guarantee that no
person shall be deprived of liberty without due process."
Will a bipartisan Congress vote in favor of the Constitution? And then, will
the president allow the removal of the secret evidence provisions of his
cherished 1996 Anti-Terrorrism
JWR contributor Nat Hentoff is a First Ammendment authority and author of numerous books. Send your comments to him by clicking here.
11/02/99: The accuracy that's owed to readers
10/26/99: Disappeared Americans
10/18/99: The blue wall of silence
10/11/99: Bill Bradley's speech tax
10/04/99: 'Technicalities' that keep us free
09/27/99: Our 'Americanism'-ignorant generation
09/20/99: ACLU better clean up its act
09/13/99: A professor of infanticide at Princeton
09/07/99: The Big Apple's Rotten Policing
08/23/99: Lawyerly ethics
08/16/99: To Get a Supreme Court Seat
08/02/99: What are the poor people doing tonight?
07/26/99: Lady Hillary and the press | <urn:uuid:d6398a2c-970c-4e5f-a13d-873041835f03> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/hentoff110899.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947741 | 1,205 | 1.601563 | 2 |
(AP) Washington National Cathedral says ‘I do’ to same-sex marriage, will host weddings in 2013
The Washington National Cathedral had been ready to embrace same-sex marriage for some time, though it took a series of recent events and a new leader for the prominent, 106-year-old church to announce Wednesday that it would begin hosting such nuptials.
The key development came last July when the Episcopal Church approved a ceremony for same-sex unions at its General Convention in Indianapolis, followed by the legalization of gay marriage in Maryland, which joined the District of Columbia. The national church made a special allowance for marriage ceremonies in states where gay marriage is legal.
Longtime same-sex marriage advocate the Very Rev. Gary Hall took over as the cathedral’s dean in October. Conversations began even before he arrived to clear the way for the ceremonies at the church that so often serves as a symbolic house of prayer for national celebrations and tragedies.
Read it all
: An LA Times article is there also
Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal
Episcopal Church (TEC)
Sexuality Debate (in Anglican Communion)
Law & Legal Issues
Marriage & Family
Religion & Culture
--Civil Unions & Partnerships
* Economics, Politics
Politics in General
Ethics / Moral Theology
Posted January 9, 2013 at 3:21 pm
To comment on this article: Go to Article View
The URL for this article is http://www.kendallharmon.net/t19/index.php/t19/article/47078/
1. BlueOntario wrote:
“National” cathedral? Just another example of some big disconnections.
January 10, 10:18 am | [comment link]
2. QohelethDC wrote:
The official name is the Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, but folks have colloquially referred to it as the National Cathedral for as long as I can remember.
Pierre L’Enfant, who laid out the city of Washington, envisioned a “great church for national purposes.” The cathedral has come to fulfill that role, hosting a variety of state funerals, inaugural services, and other events tied to our national life. Back when the Vietnam memorial was dedicated, the cathedral had a candlelight vigil during which the names of those who had died were read out. President and Mrs. Reagan came for part of it. After the 9/11 attacks in 2001, the cathedral hosted a powerful service at which Billy Graham preached.
Within the Episcopal Church, the cathedral serves as the site for installing the presiding bishop, even though s/he is based in New York.
All this to say the adjective “National” has more merit than one might think at first.
January 10, 12:59 pm | [comment link]
3. magnolia wrote:
i’m sure the forefathers are twisting in their graves to see how far down we have gone…
January 10, 1:16 pm | [comment link]
4. QohelethDC wrote:
I wonder about that, actually. They were, within the limits of their time, a fairly forward-looking bunch, not afraid to question religious doctrine. (Jefferson’s remaking of the New Testament comes to mind.) And Franklin and Jefferson, at least, took a keen interest in science, so they might be intrigued by research into whether homosexuality is innate. All this to say that the “forefathers,” knowing what we do now, might well be among the growing number of Americans who favor marriage equality.
January 10, 5:14 pm | [comment link]
5. Sarah1 wrote:
I agree that Franklin and Jefferson—both unashamed pagans—would have been just fine with the current leadership of The Episcopal Church and their actions and particular, unique, customized gospel.
The good news about this WNC news is that it allows more potential donors to hold onto their wallets, and it forces the pagans in my church to have to spend more of their money.
There needs to be more of this. Let those who believe their custom gospel fund it themselves, and let the rest of us fund the Gospel activities.
I’m happy for them to spend their money on losing and failing propositions.
January 10, 5:42 pm | [comment link]
6. magnolia wrote:
okay you are talking about two of them. same sex ‘marriage’? i don’t know, i think they liked propriety whether or not they agreed with it. i know at least that franklin remained married even though he had stopped loving his wife; he didn’t ask for divorce.
January 14, 9:43 pm | [comment link]
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The Code of Business Conduct and Ethics (Code) has been adopted by Jet Airways (India) Limited to comply with applicable law and the rules and regulations of the Stock Exchanges on which the securities of the Company are listed.
This Code covers a wide range of business practices, procedures and serves as a guide to ethical decision-making. This Code does not cover every issue that may arise, but it sets out basic policies to guide directors, officers and employees of the Company and its affiliates. All directors, officers and employees must become familiar with this Code and conduct themselves in accordance with these policies and seek to avoid even the appearance of improper behaviour.
The principal duty of the Board of Directors, along with management, is to ensure that the Company is well managed in the interests of its shareholders. The Board of Directors plays the central role in the Company's governance. It is the Company's decision-making authority on all matters except those reserved to shareholders or delegated to the management. The Board of Directors is not expected to assume an active role in the day-to-day management of the Company.
Those who violate the policies in this Code will be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including discharge from the Company. If you are in a situation that you believe may violate or lead to a violation of this Code, you must report the situation as described herein.
Each director should seek to use due care in the performance of his / her duties, be loyal to the Company, act in good faith and in a manner such director reasonably believes to be not opposed to the best interests of the Company. A director should seek to also:
In carrying out their duties and responsibilities, employees and directors are prohibited from:
A "conflict of interest" occurs when the private interest of an employee, officer or director interferes in any way - or even appears to interfere - with the interests of the Company. A conflict situation can arise when an employee, officer or director takes actions or has interests that may make it difficult to perform his or her work objectively and effectively. Conflicts of interest also arise when an employee, officer or director, or a member of his or her family, receives improper personal benefits as a result of his or her position in the Company. Each employee and director should avoid having his or her private interests interfere with
In carrying out their duties and responsibilities, all employees and directors should endeavor to protect the Company's assets and proprietary information, and ensure that the same are being used by the Company and its employees only for legitimate business purposes of the Company. Any suspected incident of fraud, mismanagement of Company assets or theft should be immediately reported for investigation to the Chairman of the Board or such other person as designated in this regard.
Employees and directors should maintain the confidentiality of confidential information entrusted to them in carrying out their duties and responsibilities, except where disclosure is approved by the Company or legally mandated or if such information is already in the public domain. Confidential information includes all non public information that might be of use to competitors, or harmful to the Company or its customers, if disclosed. The Company's confidential information shall not be inappropriately disclosed or used for the personal gain or advantage of anyone other than the Company. These obligations apply while employed or serving as a director of the Company even after employment or the director's term with the Company ends.
In carrying out their duties and responsibilities, employees and directors should endeavor to deal fairly, and should promote fair dealing by the Company, its employees and agents, with customers, suppliers and competitors.
No employee or director should seek to take unfair advantage of anyone (including the Company) through manipulation, concealment, abuse of privileged information, misrepresentation of material facts or any other unfair dealing practice.
In carrying out their duties and responsibilities, directors and employees must comply with applicable laws, rules and regulations. In addition, if any director or employee becomes aware of any information that he or she believes constitutes evidence of a violation of any securities or other laws, rules or regulations applicable to the Company or the operation of its business, by the Company, any employee or director, then such employee or director should bring such information to the attention of the Chairman of the Board or such other person as designated in this regard.
The Company holds information and training sessions to promote compliance with applicable laws, rules and regulations, including insider trading laws and it is the responsibility of each director and employee to attend such training sessions.
Employees and directors should observe all applicable laws and regulations including the Company's policies and codes as applicable to them with respect to the purchase and sale of the Company's securities.
All non public information about the Company should be considered confidential information. To use non public information for personal financial benefit or to "tip" others who might make an investment decision on the basis of this information is not only unethical but also illegal. A more detailed discussion of the insider trading laws can be found in the Company's Code of Conduct for prevention of Insider Trading.
It is the responsibility of each employee and director to become familiar with and understand these laws, regulations, policies and codes, and to seek further explanations and advice concerning their interpretation, if required.
Directors and employees should endeavor to promote ethical behaviour and to encourage employees to report evidence of illegal or unethical behaviour to appropriate Company personnel. It is the policy of the Company to not allow retaliation against any employee who makes a good faith report about a possible violation of this Code.
Suspected violations of this Code may be reported to the Chairman of the Board or the Chairman of the Audit Committee. All reported violations will be appropriately investigated. When in doubt of the best course of action in a particular situation, employees are encouraged to talk promptly to their supervisor, managers or the Head of Human Resources. Employees are expected to fully cooperate in internal investigations of misconduct.
A director charged with a violation of this Code should not participate in a vote of a Committee or the Board concerning his/her alleged violation, but may be present at a meeting of the Board or of a Committee convened for that purpose.
Special Reporting Obligations and Procedures Relating to Concerns Regarding Accounting or Auditing Practices
Employees should bring to the attention of the Audit Committee of the Company's Board of Directors any questions, concerns or complaints they may have regarding accounting, internal accounting controls or auditing matters. The Audit Committee will shortly notify the procedures for:
The Company requires honest and accurate recording and reporting of information in order to make responsible business decisions. All of the Company's books, records, accounts and financial statements must be maintained in reasonable detail, must appropriately reflect the Company's transactions and must conform both to applicable legal requirements and to the Company's system of internal controls. Records and documents should always be retained or destroyed according to the Company's record retention policies. The Company shall provide full, fair, accurate, timely, and understandable disclosure in all reports and documents that it files with, or submits to, any governmental agency or securities exchange, and in other public communications made by the registrant.
This Code sets forth guidelines for conduct of the employees, officers and directors of the Company. This Code is not an expressed or implied contract of employment and does not create any contractual rights of any kind between the Company and its employees. In addition, all employees should understand that the Code does not modify their employment relationship, whether at will or governed by contract. All references in this Code to employees shall include officers.
Any amendment to this Code must be approved by the Board of Directors and publicly disclosed as required by any applicable law or regulation.
Any waiver of this Code for the benefit of any employees, officer or director of the Company may be made only by the Company's Board of Directors and shall be disclosed promptly as required by applicable laws and regulations including the rules of any exchange on which the Company's securities are listed or traded.
We must all work to ensure prompt and consistent action against violations of this Code. However, in some situations there may be "grey areas" for which it may be difficult to know the right thing to do. Since we cannot anticipate every situation that will arise, it is important that we have a way to approach a new question or problem. These are some steps to keep in mind:
© Jet Airways (India) Ltd. | <urn:uuid:7c7aa2e2-ef17-4c05-a484-212e0d033c47> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.jetairways.com/IT/IT/AboutUs/CodeOfConduct.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959242 | 1,683 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Henry had never been more embarrassed. He must have looked so foolish.
When he stood in front of the entire class and told everyone that he wanted to become a Robot when he grew up, he was completely befuddled by their beeping giggles in response.
And then when his teacher monotonically asks him to see him during recess, Henry had no idea what he could have said wrong… What could possibly be wrong with wanting to finally become a Robot, like everyone else?
Since he was the only human boy in the school, Henry figured he was bound to become a Robot soon, and that he was just a late bloomer. Why, any day now he’d wake up and he’d have those cool opti-claw appendages, the fake antenna he strapped to his head would actually work, he’d have an awesome Robot name… something with numbers, naturally. Not the barbaric sounding “Henry” he’s been saddled with.
But now… now his teacher sits him down and tells him that it’s not “possible” for him to become a Robot, because he is a human, and that he is doomed to stay a human. Until he dies.
Henry can’t even change his name to something cool with numbers in it, because those sort of Robot-y names are for Robots only.
As he watches as his pool of tears spread across his desk, only proving his humanity further, Henry tells his teacher that he understands… he must have been naughty in a past life, and now he is doomed to live in this flesh prison.
He goes on to tell his teacher that while his dreams of becoming a Robot in this lifetime have been dashed, he has replaced them with dreams of being the best human boy he can possibly be— That way, in the next life, he can finally be a proud Droid. :-)
His teacher then tells him that reincarnation is not real, there is no evidence for anything resembling an “afterlife”, and that this dream is even more unrealistic than him becoming a Robot.
Henry nods, and decides that he should stop telling his teacher his dreams :-/
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Tehran, July 11, IRNA-The government is expected to import four billion dollars worth of gasoline by March 2006, said a senior official at the National Iranian Oil Products Distribution Company.
The English-language paper `Iran Daily' on Monday quoted Nasser Sajjadi, who heads the company's planning department, as saying that gasoline prices usually go up as oil prices surge.
"The 1.5 billion dollar budget earmarked for importing gasoline was depleted in four months," he said, adding that the government has asked the Parliament (Majlis) to give the go-ahead for spending another 2.2 billion dollars for the purpose.
He expressed unawareness about the mechanism of meeting these funds, stressing that while each liter of the imported gasoline costs some 4,500 rials, petrol is sold at 800 rials per liter.
Noting that gasoline consumption is constantly on the rise in Iran, the official said that consumption will average 66-67 million liters a day by next March.
Sajjadi said domestic refineries supply some 40 million liters of gasoline per day and that the rest has to be imported.
He further noted that one way to reduce the high gasoline consumption is to develop the public transport system and cut administrative bureaucracies to prevent unnecessary intra-city trips.
He said gasoline consumption has grown by 50 percent in the past 10 years.
Some experts say huge fuel subsidies have to be eliminated to discourage high demand for petrol across the country.
They believe that Majlis decision to keep fuel prices unchanged for the current fiscal year is a blow to efforts to reduce gasoline consumption.
Another reason for the very high petrol consumption in Iran is that most of the country's vehicles are dilapidated and consume high amounts of fuel, which has also worsened air pollution in metropolitan areas.
... Payvand News - 7/11/05 ... -- | <urn:uuid:d7d8829b-5dfe-4d2d-bf09-495f5698cc1d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.payvand.com/news/05/jul/1084.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957862 | 385 | 1.828125 | 2 |
By Ajai Chopra
The U.K. government should be nimble in its policy response if it looks as though the economy is headed for a prolonged period of weak growth, high unemployment, and subdued inflation. Currently, we don’t expect this scenario to happen. But if such a scenario appears to be in prospect, we recommend responding quickly with some combination of further quantitative easing by the Bank of England and temporary tax cuts.
The most likely scenario for the U.K. economy is that it will gradually recover, although it will face continued headwinds from a soft housing market, household and financial sector deleveraging, and ongoing consolidation of the budget. Against this, the economy should get a push from private investment and an increase in exports driven by the global recovery. Labor productivity may also rebound and improve competitiveness.
Led by these forces, the IMF is expecting a bumpy and uneven recovery in the U.K. and our updated growth forecast for the near term, taking into account the recent GDP release for the second quarter, will be published with the September World Economic Outlook. Over the medium term, we expect growth to accelerate gradually to about 2½ percent. (more…)
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The Ministry of Justice has lost four CDs containing personal data.
The government department responsible for UK courts, prisons, probation, criminal law and sentencing would not confirm or deny — due to an "ongoing investigation" — internet reports that the missing data included sensitive information such as the names and addresses of alleged victims of crime and witnesses.
An investigation is being undertaken by HM Inspectorate of Court Administration (HMICA), headed by chief inspector Eddie Bloomfield.
A spokesperson for Bloomfield confirmed that four CDs containing data were lost in the post on 15 December, in transit between the Ministry of Justice and an unnamed recipient. The spokesperson declined to comment where the discs had been sent or whether they were encrypted.
"HMICA confirms that four CD-ROMs are missing," said the HMICA spokesperson in a statement. "[The discs] were sent [by] recorded delivery. Ministers and the information commissioner were notified immediately [when] it was recognised that personal data had been lost. An investigation is underway, so it would be inappropriate to comment further at this stage".
The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), which is responsible for enforcing data-protection legislation, confirmed that the Ministry of Justice had lost the discs. The ICO said it was waiting for the results of Bloomfield's investigation and indicated that it may take further action.
"We have been informed of the loss of four discs containing personal information which were sent by HMICA," said the ICO statement. "Recent security breaches have reinforced the need for all organisations to take the security and protection of personal information seriously. HMICA is conducting an investigation into this data loss and we have requested a copy of their report. We will be looking for answers to searching questions about the security procedures which HMICA have in place to protect personal information and the safeguards that have been introduced to prevent a reoccurrence of this type of incident. Once we have HMICA's report, we will decide what further action to take."
The Ministry of Justice incident joins a steadily lengthening list of reported government data loss within recent months, including the loss by the MoD of three unencrypted laptops containing sensitive information on over 600,000 actual and potential servicemen, and the loss by HM Revenue & Customs of 25 million details of those claiming and receiving child benefits.
A question mark hangs over which postal carrier handled the discs. A Ministry of Justice spokesperson told ZDNet.co.uk on Wednesday that the discs were sent via Royal Mail recorded delivery. However, Royal Mail cast doubt on its involvement. "We have not been given any indication by the Ministry of Justice that [the data loss] has anything to do with Royal Mail," said a Royal Mail spokesperson.
Royal Mail recorded delivery is treated as standard post, and is not tracked by the Royal Mail. | <urn:uuid:a64b09af-0ab7-42b6-91e6-389110753d5f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.zdnet.com/ministry-of-justice-loses-four-cds-of-personal-data-3039292348/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973137 | 565 | 1.648438 | 2 |
Aug 12 2007
A Better Storyteller [Excerpts]
Donald Miller helps culturally conflicted evangelicals make peace with their faith.
Donald Miller is in a room of 500 or 600 people, all waiting for him to speak. But as he steps behind the podium and begins, his voice seems more suited to a small group of five or six.
"Okay," he starts, "what are some of your favorite movies?"
A murmur of response—"Come on!" Miller encourages—and then people start shouting out titles. The Matrix ! A Beautiful Mind ! The Straight Story ! Finding Nemo ! The audience oohs and aahs at each other's choices. Little Women ! Napoleon Dynamite ! It's a Wonderful Life ! The shouting goes on for a while; they forget this is a workshop.
"Okay, great," Miller says, bringing attention front and center. "Now, call out your favorite parts of the Nicene Creed."
Awkward giggles throughout the room—they know they've been had. Then one man pipes up: "It's a wonderful life!"
In the next half hour, Miller delivers a variation on a theme ascendant in evangelical Christianity: Truth is rooted in story, not in rational systems. The Christian mission is not well served when we speak in terms of spiritual laws or rational formulas. Propositional truths, when extracted from a narrative context, lack meaning. "The chief role of a Christian," he says, "is to tell a better story."
Best known for Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality , a youthful, angsty collection of personal essays that has sold more than 800,000 copies since its publication in 2003, Miller has refined his craft and his range of interests.
At the book-signing table after his keynote address, Miller is handed copy after copy of each of his four titles: Blue Like Jazz , Searching for God Knows What (2004), Through Painted Deserts (2005; a reissue of his first book, Prayer and the Art of Volkswagen Maintenance ), and To Own a Dragon (2006). But mostly, he is handed copy after copy of Blue Like Jazz and offered testimonials about the book's effect:
A 40-something woman approaches Miller with two plastic grocery bags filled with copies of his books. "I've already bought Blue Like Jazz 13 times," she gushes. "But I gotta have all these to give to people. I'm a Jesus girl, but I also like to go out and do tequila shots with my friends. This is a book I can give to those friends."
[Miller] compares his experience to Paul speaking to the Athenians on Mars Hill. Paul understood Greek culture, he was winsome, and he could make an appeal for truth in a way that Greeks would receive.
[TBC: In Acts:17:30-32 the message that Paul preached was quite different from that of Donald Miller.
"And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:
"Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.
"And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked: and others said, We will hear thee again of this matter.
"So Paul departed from among them.
"Howbeit certain men clave unto him, and believed."] | <urn:uuid:dd2eaf70-e5e3-4665-b5d7-6803b5206f78> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thebereancall.org/content/better-storyteller | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955587 | 729 | 1.710938 | 2 |
For this week’s cover story on the “facts” disseminating from both political campaigns, we wanted to capture the sense of being overwhelmed by often contradictory statements in a visual way.
The challenge of creating the typographical portrait (or calligram) of Obama and Romney fell to artist Dylan Roscover, a 22-year-old animator and graphic designer based in Los Angeles. Using statements from the candidates, the campaigns, ads and their supporters, Dylan spent 40 hours painstakingly crafting the cover artwork.
In Dylan’s words:
“The fonts I used are from one of my favorite foundries, Hoefler & Frere-Jones. Sentinel and Mercury define Romney, and Verlag and Archer define Obama. These fonts are very similar to the ones used in their political campaigns. Having grown up in the middle of the digital revolution, I sense a certain lack of patience toward digital work. Instant gratification is more prevalent than ever, and the attitude seems to be that faster is better. Calligram design, like any mosaic form, is inherently slow, even digitally. It’s something that requires an immense amount of patience and dedication, especially to be done well. To me, there are no shortcuts to great work—you need to put in the time somehow. People often ask me, ‘How did you do that?’ The simple fact is, you just have to sit down, start setting type and don’t stop.”
Dylan wasn’t the only one who logged extra hours on this cover. Check out the first round of corrections (above), courtesy of our intrepid copy desk.
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Nowadays, it seems like we’re spending just about all of our time indoors. Indeed, our jobs have us staying inside all of the time, typing away on our computers, staring into the artificial light of our computer monitors. Increasingly, leisure time is being spent inside as well. Video games, movies, music, and reading virtually require that we stay inside, lest we spend our hard earned money on portable gadgets. So really, reader, it’s quite understandable if you are sick of being indoors. Fortunately, it is not going to be all that hard for you to reconnect with the outdoors! If you put a little bit of thought into it, you can be enjoying yourself in no time.
It’s completely crazy, but most people seem to forget that nature even exists. We spend more time indoors watching nature shows than actually heading outside to enjoy the natural beauty of our surroundings. And this is something that you can easily change! All that you have to do is hop on the internet (yes, yes, I know) and run a couple quick searches for the parks that are in your area. Just about every city has a park of some sort. Once you find one, you can head outdoors to do a little bit of walking, jogging, or biking. Bike trails are a great, healthy way to pass the time.
Of course, one of the best things that you can do when you get out of the house is grab a book and find a nice place to read. There’s something about reading in the great outdoors that really seems to work. It’s easier to concentrate, it’s easier to breathe, and it’s just altogether enjoyable. If you don’t read often, then you can begin using it as an excuse to get out of the house and enjoy nature in a subtle kind of way.
While there are plenty of things to do indoors, one of the best ways that you can use your time is to head outdoors to snap a few photos. If you do not have a camera, know that they are dropping in price. You are not going to have to spend thousands of dollars to get your new hobby started. Indeed, you are going to be able to drop a few hundred dollars at your local electronics outlet and get a camera that is truly going to let you have a great time when you head outside.
And let’s not forget about the joys of outdoor cooking. Sure, some of your favorite meals can be cooked indoors . And sure, many of your favorite meals are going to be much harder to prepare outside. But never let yourself forget about the simple joy of firing up the barbeque and cooking yourself a nice meal. Toss a piece of meat onto the grill and enjoy a beverage. Take in the scenery, and allow yourself to have a wonderful time.
At the end of the day, you’re just not meant to spend all of your time inside. It’s not healthy, and it’s not natural. Never allow yourself to forget that the world is a huge, beautiful place—one that needs to be explored before it can be truly understood or enjoyed. This, I dare say, is one of the most important lessons that you are ever going to learn. | <urn:uuid:f923ee09-d1de-4b13-aa66-f45cb32a75f3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.averagegal.com/most-important-lesson-that-will-ever-learn/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959045 | 675 | 1.710938 | 2 |
Nestlé and Food Safety: discrepancy between the company’s public statements and actual practices
Watch a clip from a Swiss TV station featuring the story of a court case brought against Nestlé by a former employee who served as Corporate Food Safety Manager and Assistant Vice-President
On May 15 2012, the Swiss TV news bulletin featured an enquiry into the court case brought against Nestlé by a former employee who served as Corporate Food Safety Manager and Assistant Vice-President from 2000 until 2010, when she was informed that her contract was terminated. See link to the video at: http://www.rts.ch/info/economie/3988696-une-ex-responsable-de-la-securite-alimentaire-depose-plainte-contre-nestle.html
In her letter of 4th September 2010, to Nestlé’s CEO, Mr. Brabeck-Lemathe, the former employee explains her concerns regarding management practices in Nestlé, which undermine food safety and her personal experiences of harassment when she tried to improve the situation. (See letter to Nestle´s CEO)
The TV programme provides examples of serious shortcomings in Nestlé’s management of food safety. In 2003 there were 2 reports of babies in France choking on baby biscuits. The former employee discovered in the company’s files that there were 40 more and her investigations led to changes in the composition of the biscuits. She raised concerns about levels of vitamins and minerals in baby milk, and finally the management set up a working group, but there were no results. In 2005, Nestlé was forced to withdraw baby milks from the market in China because they contained too much iodine.
The attempts by the Nestlé employee to address “the serious shortcomings in food safety management” led to her being fired by the company. From 1990-2000 she had been Senior Scientist at the Department of Food Safety at WHO Headquarters in Geneva. The TV news shows an excerpt from a clip in which a Nestlé manager explains the importance of international recommendations in English to company staff. He tells them that WHO uses complicated and technical language, which he sometimes calls “quack-quack”.
In the TV programme, Dr. Lida Lhotska, who works for a Geneva-based NGO, active in infant feeding and a member of IBFAN, watches the excerpt. Her smile, when she sees it, is worth a thousand words. She says she is not at all surprised because her experience shows the discrepancy between Nestlé’s statements and their actual practices: what Nestlé declares to the public is not at all the same as what actually happens.
- Link to the video: http://www.rts.ch/
- Letter of 4th September 2010, to Nestlé’s CEO, Mr. Brabeck-Lemathe
- Baby Milk Action Press Release | <urn:uuid:4e0a1e14-6bef-4dc7-b5ab-585dcf4579b3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ibfan.org/newsletters-world-europe-20120517.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961057 | 602 | 1.585938 | 2 |
We find This item is available in downloadable format only. Since it is not shipped, be sure before you order that your shipping charges are 0.Politics in every workplace — even the home office. Too often, we deal with it by suppressing it. Dealing with Politics openly and directly is a key to building a high performance organization. Yet sometimes, it's just too difficult to talk about. But mark your calendar! October is Workplace Politics Awareness Month! This October, plan something to help the people you work with come to peace with politics. Take advantage of October to talk about Politics without people taking it personally. You might do more in October to raise productivity than all the downsizing, reorgs, acquisitions, spinoffs and what-not have done in the past decade.
The kit includes a 16-slide PowerPoint presentation that you can use to kick off a discussion of politics in your organization. And it includes Ten Things to Do For Workplace Politics Awareness Month — ten great ideas for organizations that want to deal with toxic politics. You also get a copy of my tips booklet People who ordered this item also ordered Workplace Conflict Awareness Month Kit.303 Secrets of Workplace Politics.
Details and additional information
Workplace Politics Awareness Month Kit is in Acrobat format, which gives you several advantages. You can print it, and read it like any book. Or in electronic form, you can use the search capability of the Acrobat Reader to find passages of special interest to you. If you load it onto your laptop or PDA you can read it anywhere — and it's weightless, too.
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Last modified: 01 Nov 2012 10:46 Eastern Time | <urn:uuid:98212bcc-0bc8-406f-aa31-378898eb235a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.chacocanyon.com/Merchant5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=CCC&Product_Code=SK-05&Category_Code=SK | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942957 | 367 | 1.515625 | 2 |
When the states top lawyer offers his legal opinion on a hot-button issue, its sure to be an attention-grabber. Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinellis recent advisory opinion on the role of local law enforcement officials in immigration matters was no different.
Prompted by Prince William County Del. Robert Marshall, Cuccinelli wrote on July 30 that, in his opinion, Virginia law enforcement officers in a vein similar to the Arizona law passed earlier this year may inquire into the immigration status of individuals they have either stopped or arrested.
While uplifting for proponents of more active immigration-control measures, Cuccinellis opinion also sent ripples of fear throughout certain corners of Alexandria, where the immigrant community makes up about a quarter of the population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
The background level of fear in the community is at an all-time high, said Simon Moshenberg, a lawyer specializing in civil rights issues with local firm Victor M. Glasberg and Associates.
According to Moshenberg, the weight of the statement from the attorney generals office especially since the news that came out of Arizona has been too easily construed to carry the abiding force of law.
In Alexandria, billed as a sanctuary city because of its standing policy on immigration issues, Chief of Police Earl Cook acknowledged Cuccinellis opinion, but, without actual changes to existing laws, said nothing would change.
We respect the attorney generals opinion, however, state and local laws have not been changed, Cook said in a written statement last week. Alexandria residents and those who work or visit our city can be assured that our police departments actions and policies remain unchanged.
Those policies date most recently to a 2007 City Council vote stating, the city and its various agencies will neither make inquiries about nor report on the citizenship of those who seek the protection of its laws or the use of its services.
Within the citys police ranks, Cook said, Our current policy is that we do not ask about immigration status unless it is relevant to the situation or would assist us in solving a crime.
If an arrest is made, then that individuals immigration status is verified as part of the booking procedures at the adult detention center through the Alexandria Sheriffs Office. If that person is found to be illegal, then their information is referred to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Cooks response would likely please the American Civil Liberties Union, which weighed in on the issue several days after Cuccinelli offered his opinion.
The ACLU sent a letter to police chiefs around the state that advised them to ignore the attorney general on the matter because the opinion is legally faulty and would lead to adverse public safety consequences.
Still, Moshenberg said he harbors fears despite the standing orders for Alexandria police.
He is concerned that Cuccinellis advice to Prince William County, where headlines were made two years ago for an attempt to curb the rising number of immigrants, could sow dissension within the ranks of police agencies in places like Alexandria where internal policy prohibits the very inquiries that Cuccinelli said are permissible.
I fear that what Cuccinelli is trying to do is basically empower individual officers who themselves hold anti-immigrant sentiments of which there are inevitably some in any department to empower them to violate their orders, Moshenberg said.
To empower police officers to buck the command, to buck their brass, is dangerous, he added.
Three days after Cuccinellis opinion went public, Tenants and Workers United, the community activist group based in Arlandria-Chirilagua, held a press conference to clear up misconceptions and also establish their opposition to what they saw as a clearly anti-immigrant political maneuver.
Particularly, for the immigrant community, we wanted to calm peoples fears if they had confused the opinion with actual laws and practices, said Jon Liss, the advocacy groups executive director. They thought there had already been a change in practice and there hadnt.
Liss said TWU is now moving to educate our local political leaders to do the maximum they can to ensure that Alexandria continues to be a welcoming community. | <urn:uuid:fd2e7349-f75b-42dc-8e7a-d583074b1ff6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://alextimes.com/2010/08/with-opinion-cuccinelli-brings-immigrat/?pagenum=44&sort=id&dir=DESC | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960162 | 840 | 1.53125 | 2 |
I cannot agree with the comrades who said it was inappropriate to broaden the scope of this question. It is quite appropriate.
It has been said here that the exponents of Social-Democratic ideas have been mainly intellectuals. That is not so. During the period of Economism the exponents of revolutionary ideas were workers, not intellectuals. This is confirmed by “A Worker”, the author of the pamphlet published with a foreword by Comrade Axelrod.
Comrade Sergeyev asserted here that the elective principle will not make for better information. That is not so. if the elective principle were applied in practice, we should unquestionably be much better informed than we now are.
It has also been pointed out that splits have usually been the work of intellectuals. This is an important point, but it does not settle the question. In my writings for the press I have long urged that as many workers as possible should be placed on the committees. The period since the Second Congress has been marked by inadequate attention to this duty—such is the impression I have received from talks with comrades engaged in practical Party work. If in Saratov only one worker was placed on the committee, this means that they did not. know how to choose suitable people from among the workers. No doubt, this was due also to the split within the Party; the struggle for the committees has had a damaging effect on practical work. For this very reason we endeavoured in every way possible to speed the convening of the Congress.
It will be the task of the future centre to reorganise a considerable number of our committees; the inertness of the committee-men has to be overcome. (Applause and booing.)
I can hear Comrade Sergeyev booing while the non-committee-men applaud. I think we should look at the matter more broadly. To place workers on the committees is a political, not only a pedagogical, task. Workers have the class instinct, and, given some political experience, they pretty soon become staunch Social-Democrats. I should be strongly in favour of having eight workers to every two intellectuals on our committees. Should the advice given in our Party literature—to place as many workers as possible on the committees—be insufficient, it would be advisable for this recommendation to be given in the name of the Congress. A clear and definite directive from the Congress will give you a radical means of fighting demagogy; this is the express will of the Congress.
A Letter to a Comrade on Our Organisational Tasks, September 1902. See present edition, Vol. 6, p. 237.—Ed. | <urn:uuid:bb72661f-c7ad-409f-8f4f-3eeae473842f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://marxists.anu.edu.au/archive/lenin/works/1905/3rdcong/18.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973173 | 539 | 1.53125 | 2 |
Mitt Romney's sketchy performance in the second debate
By E.J. Dionne Jr.
"Lead from behind" may be a sound bite the Obama administration regrets, but debating from behind is clearly something President Barack Obama is very good at. He got the first debate's wake-up call while Mitt Romney let the encounter in Denver mislead him into confusing petulance with strength.
For Obama's supporters, the fact that the president played offense, had a strategy and seemed happy in his work was reason enough for elation. But the most electorally significant performance was Romney's. Under pressure this time, the former Massachusetts governor displayed his least attractive sides. He engaged in pointless on-stage litigation of the debate rules. He repeatedly demonstrated his disrespect for both the president and Candy Crowley, the moderator. And Romney was just plain querulous when anyone dared question him about the gaping holes in his tax and budget plans.
Any high school debate coach would tell a student that declaring "believe me because I said so" is not an argument. Yet Romney confused biography with specificity and boasting with answering a straightforward inquiry. "Well of course they add up," Romney insisted of his budget numbers. "I -- I was -- I was someone who ran businesses for 25 years, and balanced the budget. I ran the Olympics and balanced the budget." Romney was saying: Trust me because I'm an important guy who has done important stuff. He gave his listeners no basis on which to verify the trust he demanded.
Romney's stonewalling was so obvious that it opened the way for one of Obama's most effective lines of the evening: "If somebody came to you, Governor, with a plan that said, here, I want to spend $7 or $8 trillion, and then we're going to pay for it, but we can't tell you until maybe after the election how we're going to do it, you wouldn't have taken such a sketchy deal. And neither should you, the American people, because the math doesn't add up." Obama sought to make that point in the last debate. This time he had a metaphor and a story to go with the arithmetic.
Romney also covertly disclosed that he, like George W. Bush before him, has every intention of cutting taxes on the rich. Like Bush, he used stealthy language to try to achieve a great fiscal cover-up.
Here was Romney on Tuesday: "I will not under any circumstances reduce the share that's being paid by the highest-income taxpayers." Here was Bush in 2000: "The facts are, after my plan, the wealthiest of Americans pay more taxes of the percentage of the whole than they do today."
This really matters: Romney intends, as Bush did, to push for steep tax cuts for the wealthy. His only pledge is that he'll keep the share of the total tax take paid by the wealthy unchanged, presumably by reducing other taxes too. And this is supposed to lead to lower deficits? How?
The most instructive contrast between Debate I and Debate II was the extent to which Romney's ideas crumbled at the slightest contact with challenge. Romney and Paul Ryan are erecting a Potemkin Village designed to survive only until the polls close on Nov. 6. They cannot say directly that they really believe in slashing taxes on the rich and backing away from so much of what government does because they know that neither idea will sell. So they offer soothing language to the middle class, photo ops at homeless programs to convey compassion, and a steady stream of attacks on Obama aimed at shifting all the attention his way.
For his part, Obama looks strong when he calmly and methodically confronts the exceptionally large philosophical and practical differences that now divide the parties. He looks weak when he fuzzes up those differences in the hope of avoiding conflict. The fight is often asymmetric because Obama speaks for balance -- between tax increases and spending cuts to reduce the deficit, between a thriving market and an active government -- while today's conservatives have no interest in balance.
In the first debate, Obama let Romney back into the race by failing to shake his opponent's self-presentation. But Romney also put himself into contention by pretending to be a moderate, shelving his plutocratic side, and hiding his party's long-term objectives.
In the second debate, the disguise fell. Romney revealed more of himself than he wanted to and asked voters to endorse a radical tax-cutting program without providing them the details that matter. Sketchy is one word for this. Deceptive is another.
E.J. Dionne Jr. writes for The Washington Post Writers Group. | <urn:uuid:8fe8c4fa-8b7a-4a28-9b91-dd7d2eb7bcfd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2012/10/mitt_romneys_sketchy_performan.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979778 | 947 | 1.539063 | 2 |
By DAVID SKOLNICK
VINDICATOR POLITICS WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- The federal indictment of U.S. Rep. James A. Traficant Jr. will have no impact on his standing in Congress for now.
But if he is found guilty of any or all of the 10 felony counts he faces, that's another story.
The House's code of official conduct says the body defers taking any action if one of its own is indicted.
"This is not to say the committee abandons concern in statutory matters. Rather, it feels it normally should not undertake duplicative investigations pending judicial resolution of such cases," the code reads.
"Members remain members through indictment," said U.S. Rep. Bob Ney of St. Clairsville, R-18th, and chairman of the House Administration Committee. "It has no bearing on their ability to vote. They don't take a temporary leave of absence. If a member is found guilty, then it's a different situation."
If a congressman is found guilty, the matter is turned over to the House Standards and Ethics Committee for a censure hearing, Ney said.
Amendment: An amendment passed April 16, 1975, by the House forbids congressmen who have been found guilty of a crime for which the sentence could be two or more years from voting in the House until judicial or executive proceedings reinstate the member's presumption of innocence or until he is re-elected to the House after his conviction.
Traficant, of Poland, D-17th, could face about 40 years in prison if found guilty of all 10 charges.
In most of the previous 23 occasions when a congressman has been indicted, they resigned. Traficant, a nine-term congressman, has not addressed this particular issue but says he is ready for a court fight.
Hours before the indictment but knowing it was going to be handed up at any moment, Traficant said he was "as frightened as anyone would be in my position." The congressman planned a press conference Monday to discuss the indictment.
If a congressman does not resign after being convicted of a felony, the House Standards and Ethics Committee investigates the matter and makes a recommendation to the full House, which can choose to take disciplinary action up to and including dismissal, according to House code.
When a congressman is a convicted felon, House code says his presumption of innocence is gone, and Congress can remove a member even if there are outstanding appeals.
Special election: The seat is then vacated until the governor of the congressman's state schedules a special election. The election would be a free-for-all with any qualified candidate being able to have his or her name on the ballot.
Among possible candidates if Traficant's seat becomes vacant are: state Sen. Robert F. Hagan of Youngstown, D-33rd; Republican Paul Alberty of Poland; Randy Walter, a Canfield real estate developer; Trumbull County Commissioner Michael O'Brien of Warren; former Youngstown Mayor Patrick Ungaro, and Youngstown Mayor George M. McKelvey.
Capri Cafaro had plans to run for the House seat next year.
She is a daughter of J.J. Cafaro, who plans to plead guilty to a federal charge of conspiracy to bribe Traficant.
Traficant defeated Hagan and Mahoning County Auditor George Tablack in last year's Democratic primary and beat Alberty and Walter, who ran as an independent, in last year's general election.
The timing of a Traficant departure from Congress would dictate when the election would be held.
If he were to leave within a few months of a primary or general election, the congressional election could be held then, said Carlo LoParo, spokesman for the Ohio Secretary of State, which oversees the state's elections.
"It is up to the discretion of the governor after he receives the secretary of state's recommendation on a date," LoParo said.
There are no legal requirements as to when the governor must call the election, he said.
Two cases: The last Ohio congressman to leave office was Willis D. Gradison Jr. of Cincinnati, a Republican who resigned his 2nd District seat to take a lobbying job in January 1993.
The governor called a special May election, the same day as the regular primary that year, and Rob Portman, a Republican from Cincinnati, won. He still holds the seat.
In 1990, Donald E. "Buz" Luken of Middletown resigned his 8th District seat about a month before the general election that year to avoid a House Ethics investigation into charges of improper sexual advances toward a female federal employee.
The governor ordered a special election for the same date as the scheduled general election in November 1990. John A. Boehner, a West Chester Republican, won that election and still holds the congressional seat. | <urn:uuid:12537ad8-0fcb-4ddf-89a3-191c26ed7d16> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.vindy.com/news/2001/may/06/what-happens-if-hes-convicted/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971811 | 1,018 | 1.539063 | 2 |
Driven by the desire to create the next viral video
What would L.A. look like without any cars?
That question fascinated Ross Ching because (a) he hates getting stuck in traffic and (b) he likes creating Internet videos whose images are intriguing enough to go viral.
The 24-year-old Santa Monica filmmaker began to contemplate a carless city in December after he discovered Matt Logue's photography book "Empty L.A.", in which Logue used digital sleight of hand to produce deserted street scenes.
"I thought, How can I take this concept and make it my own thing?" Ching tells Culture Monster. "It made sense to combine Matt's cool idea with my specialty, which is time-lapse, and do a video. Photographs are two-dimensional, but video adds the dimension of time, and that third dimension helps tell the story" -- in this case, what he calls "the weird obsession people in L.A. have with driving."
For a week, Ching, was up at sunrise, taking pictures when the light was right and traffic was light. He spent 15 to 20 hours filming with his Canon 7D and about the same amount of time rendering and editing his footage, including erasing any signs of automotive life. (To find out more about how he did all this visit his website, www.rossching.com.)
He tweeted his own thousand followers and sent strategic alerts to people he thought might spread the word. "This whole business is a combination of skill and luck. You have to do the right stuff and interest the right person at the right time."
Ching says he got interested in time-lapse photography and "standing out online" while studying film at San Diego State University. In 2009, the year after he graduated, he made and posted a video inspired by the indie-rock band Death Cab for Cutie song "Little Bribes," using what he calls "stop-motion typography."
The piece took off. "One thing led to another,"says Ching, "and Atlantic Records contacted me about making it the official Death Cab video." Offers from other companies followed.
Ching has since signed on as a director with A Common Thread, an L.A.-based boutique production company. He makes Web and TV commercials and music videos as well as "passion projects" like "Running on Empty."
"My one rule is that I never do the same thing twice," says Ching. "With 'Empty,' I tried to show more of my own personality. I think that's what strikes a chord with people. That and showing them something different. There's a whole new generation of Internet users interested in viral video because they want to see things they haven't seen before."
-- Karen Wada | <urn:uuid:fbefaf19-f63b-4b7a-97f5-6bdc9d2e9de6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/2010/06/driven-by-the-desire-to-create-the-next-viral-video.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972685 | 577 | 1.539063 | 2 |
There’s been a lot of crowing as of late from folks that wish the whole NoSQL “movement” (where “NoSQL” means “not only SQL” – but gets misinterpreted a LOT) had been named something else. Since the whole movement is essentially engineers at this point, I thought I’d weigh in (I’m just a lowly marketing guy, so reader beware).
The NoSQL moniker is, frankly, about as good as it gets for an early adopter technology. Why? Because it’s polarizing. Of course, the engineers hate it — it doesn’t *accurately* describe anything about what’s going on there (in case you haven’t heard, engineers love accuracy and precision). However, when a new technology is gaining ground, marketing matters. And when marketing matters, the BEST thing you can have is a “storyline” that writes itself for the journalists, analysts, etc that will help to distribute these ideas inside of enterprises.
“NoSQL” does just that. It’s got an implied conflict in the name, and the single easiest story to “write” is one of conflict (see, oh, I dunno, ALL of the mainstream media outlets).
Folks on both sides of the debate should be embracing this name for the time being. Reason: the name provides a context that will get attention, and early on attention equals adoption (pilots, etc).
I’d contend that the name will fade – especially as “NoSQL” constructs get integrated into SQL data models. Now, the zealots will always want the divide. But the truth is that the divide will disappear over time as the technology matures, and in five years time, we’ll all look back at “when we used to call that stuff NoSQL.”
In the meantime, engineers — embrace it. Yes, the moniker isn’t accurate. Yes, it feeds the flames of inaccuracy. Yes, it’s an upstart naming convention that begins by shooting an arrow at the “old man” of SQL. That’s all fine and dandy. It’s actually *exactly* what you want. (Don’t believe me? Go study Oracle’s early ad campaigns — which were brilliant — for proof.)
(Cross-posted @ the Glue Blog ) | <urn:uuid:b7492e2c-9a27-4c88-b68a-6f4d7e1daf94> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cloudave.com/594/why-the-nosql-moniker-is-useful-for-now/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936996 | 519 | 1.554688 | 2 |
As a nursing assistant, you might interact closely with patients while working under the supervision of a nurse. For many nursing assistants, the satisfaction they receive from taking care of people and making them comfortable can outweigh the stress and demands of the job. In a nursing assistant program, you'll likely study basic bathing, grooming, and feeding techniques, as well as key emergency procedures and how to check for vital signs.
If you're looking for a degree or certificate program, you've come to the right place. Yahoo! Education gives you access to an education database that can help you find a school and program that is right for you.
Get started now! | <urn:uuid:cb65c02a-9dbe-4f16-8b99-323ee130ef45> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://education.yahoo.net/careers/nursing_and_medical/nursing_assistant.htm?wid=programSubCategoryWH&svkid=1LD54 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972109 | 131 | 1.773438 | 2 |
An anonymous reader writes "I am working on a project that would allow our customers to test out sending different PCL commands to LAN printers. My initial thought was that a DOS batch file will allow users to select some simple options, send the tests to printers, and even generate a small web page which, when launched from the batch file, will provide email feedback on the tool. This all worked. To spice it up I added some ANSI color commands to the menus, though the implementation of that may prove tricky without resorting to .COM files or forcing the load of the ansi.sys via the command.com shortcut. And this implementation goes against my initial idea that I want the entire thing to be contained in a standalone batch file. My questions are: Is there a better option for this? Are DOS Batch files too 1990s to be taken seriously in 2010? The application needs to (1) be simple (2) be easy to update (3) be able to send PCL commands to LAN-attached printers and (4) allow email feedback. I don't know what other programming language would allow this and be as simple. I tend to think that I have found the best tool for the job but if you have another idea let me know. Call me crazy but I love DOS." | <urn:uuid:bc1f219a-901f-4da2-9e02-d6c92de1a585> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ask.slashdot.org/story/10/05/26/2144241/for-automated-testing-better-alternatives-to-dos-batch-files?sdsrc=prevbtmprev | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934079 | 265 | 1.507813 | 2 |
bluedragonhawk asked: Has it been said how many episodes Elementary will have yet? I'm curious if it is a miniseries, or a few eps per season like Sherlock is, or regular number of eps for a season?
It’ll probably follow the basic US drama format of 26 episodes, though I haven’t actually read anything saying exactly how many.
- consulting-frostgiant likes this
- paperdollcircus said: Usually they start with an order of six episodes, and then if the show does well, they order the rest.
- endquestionmark likes this
- will-write-for-food said: Usually the first season of a new fall network show in the US is only 13 episodes long.
- deadgirlwhogotkilled likes this
- dreadpiratewestley said: Cable dramas are usually 13 eps per season, but as Elementary is on network TV, if it’s picked up for a full season, it will likely be for 22 eps airing Sept - May.
- thearchaeologist said: The first season will have 13 episodes, actually. :}
- bakerstreetbabes posted this | <urn:uuid:f7b0c07b-1b49-4426-bdef-6f5732ce3a3e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://bakerstreetbabes.tumblr.com/post/30054085099/has-it-been-said-how-many-episodes-elementary-will-have | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941525 | 250 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Frequently Asked Questions
About the Student Visa
What do the terms F-l and I-20 mean?
The F-1 visa is a non-immigrant, full-time, student visa that allows foreigners to pursue education in the United States. F-l is the official name of the student visa.
A Form I-20 is a government form that tells the U.S. government that you are eligible for F-1 Student Status. It certifies that (1) you are or expect to be a "bona fide" student; (2) you meet our admissions requirements; (3) you will pursue a full course of study; (4) you proved to us that you have enough money to study and live in the U.S. without working illegally or suffering from poverty.
Who is eligible for a Student Visa?
Any person who wishes to study in the U.S. is eligible for a student visa. You will have to provide the U.S. Embassy or Consulate in your country with the required proof of your qualifications. The most important requirement is that you have obtained the form I-20 from the school that you plan to attend.
How long does it take to get approval?
We usually advise starting the process at least two months before the date on which you plan to start at BSML. In some cases, student visas are issued quickly but it is best to apply well in advance of the date you plan to begin studies. There are times of the year when embassies are particularly busy and there can be delays in processing all visa applications.
How long is the F-1 visa valid?
It is valid for as long as you are enrolled and attending a program. After you finish studies at BSML, you have 60 day to leave the country or transfer to another school. You don’t have to begin classes within 60 days, but must be transferred electronically from the old school to the new school within that time period.
Can I go back to my country for a visit and return to BSML on the same visa?
Yes, you can. You must return within five months. Before leaving the US, bring your I-20 form to the Primary Designated School Officer (PDSO). She has to sign on page 3 for your re-entry into the country.
I only enrolled for four weeks. Can I stay longer? How can I get my student visa extended?
It is very easy. You don’t have to fill out any papers or go to any government office. The PDSO can change the ending date of your program and print out a new I-20 form.
I have B-l, J-l, etc. visa, but I want to change to an F-l visa. Can I do this?
You can apply for Change of Status as long and your current status (B-l, J-l, etc.) has not expired. We can supply give you with the application form and tell you what you need to do. You cannot begin to study until approval has been received. Make an appointment to meet with the PDSO to discuss it. Keep in mind that Change of Status applications are closely scrutinized and the approval process can be difficult.
How you dress for your visa interview is important. You should consider the interview a formal event, Business attire is appropriate.
Visa officers are rushed. They often only have a few moments to interview you. Be prepared to provide your information quickly and completely.
The visa officer is required to assume that you plan to stay permanently in the United States. You must prove that you do not have this intent and that you plan on returning to your country. Collect and bring documents to your interview that show good reason for you to return to your home country. Items such as:
Proof of employment or the letter stating that you will be considered for employment when you return to your country
Photos of family members residing in your country
Photos of property that you or your family own
Letters of reference
Have an Objective
Have an academic or professional objective for studying English in the U.S. It’s not enough to say that the schools are better in the U.S. Be ready to tell the officer what kind of career you are pursuing and how studying in the U.S. will better prepare you to be successful.
Other helpful documents: | <urn:uuid:1ba8398d-b6fe-4e8f-b3e8-406b65a39fd3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.studyenglish.com/en/h_faq.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961131 | 905 | 1.84375 | 2 |
Our Top Stories
Women in the Financial Sector: A White House Forum on Economic Growth
July 18, 2012
03:48 PM EDT
Ed. Note: This piece is cross-posted from Commerce.gov
Yesterday, I spoke with around 100 women from across the U.S. financial services industry at the White House. The forum included business executives as well as stewards of institutional funds.
I’m an economist by training and I’ve studied the role that women play in the workforce. When it comes to decision-making, in the boardroom or anywhere else, the best decisions get made when there is more diversity of perspectives and opinions at the table. So it was great to hear from these leaders.
We talked about the U.S. economy and some of the challenges we face, and I highlighted some of the things that President Obama is pushing for to help strengthen our economy, build on our global competitiveness, and create even more jobs.
Already, GDP has grown for 11 straight quarters and more than 4.4 million private sector jobs have been created over the past 28 months. That’s good news, but clearly we must do more.
For example, we need to expand support for states and localities to hire more teachers, police, and firefighters. We need to expand infrastructure investment, and put unemployed construction workers back to work. We need to reward firms that insource—bringing jobs back to America—and eliminate tax benefits for companies that outsource. And we need to extend tax cuts for middle class families.
In addition, everyone agreed that Americans should be as concerned, perhaps even more concerned, with long-term investments that assure long-term American competitiveness. For example, the president has called on Congress to support more research and development as well as tech transfer in America’s top universities and labs along with investments that will help to increase the skills of the U.S. workforce, provide greater access to higher education and enhance our nation’s educational infrastructure.
Clearly, we have the tools at our disposal to create stable, long-term growth. We should use them. Strong and steady economic growth is necessary to build the economy we all want—an economy where everyone gets a fair shot, everyone does their fair share and everyone plays by the same rules. That’s the vision for America that we all share.
After I finished speaking with this talented group of women, Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade Francisco Sánchez moderated a panel focused on the opportunities and challenges in the global economy. The panel boasted high-level participants, including: Lael Brainard, Under Secretary for International Affairs, Department of the Treasury; Elizabeth Littlefield, President and CEO, Overseas Private Investment Corporation; and Abby Joseph Cohen, Managing Director, Senior Investment Strategist and President, Global Markets Institute, Goldman Sachs. The discussion covered such wide-ranging topics as the impact of Europe on the U.S. economy, opportunities in the Middle East/North Africa region and the sectors and markets that are ripe for private investment.
Dr. Rebecca Blank is the the Acting Secretary of the United States Department of Commerce. | <urn:uuid:981c32d6-d8a4-4845-93ca-c06392296549> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2012/07/18/women-financial-sector-white-house-forum-economic-growth | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952473 | 646 | 1.703125 | 2 |
The issue is whether health insurance should be tied to employers and employment. We don't expect employers to provide or subsidize auto insurance, homeowners insurance or life insurance (tho a lot of employers provide the latter). Why is health insurance different?"
The answer is pretty simple, the U.S. government policy. This from wikipedia:
You can thank the federal government for the mess were in today.
Submitted by Virtual Newsroom | <urn:uuid:d44e6e6a-27c6-4a2e-b07c-d034065a5149> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sungazette.com/page/content.detail/id/589815/The-federal-mess.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957616 | 90 | 1.5625 | 2 |
McLEAN, Va. — The calls have reached a point of repetitive regularity for civil rights lawyer Gadeir Abbas: A young Muslim American, somewhere in the world, is barred from boarding an airplane.
The exact reasons are never fully articulated, but the reality is clear. The traveler has been placed on the government's terror watchlist — or the more serious no-fly list — and clearing one's name becomes a legal and bureaucratic nightmare.
On Monday Abbas sent letters to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and FBI Director Robert Mueller requesting assistance for his two most recent clients. One is a resident of Portland, Ore. who is trying to fly to Italy to live with his mother. The other, a teenager and U.S. citizen living in Jordan, has been unable to travel to Connecticut to lead prayers at a mosque.
"All American citizens have the unqualified right to reside in the United States," Abbas wrote Monday in a letter to secretary of State Hillary Clinton seeking a change in status for the client in Jordan.
Abbas, a lawyer with the Council on American-Islamic Relations, tries to piece together the reason why a client has been placed on the list. Perhaps a person has a similar name to a known terrorist. Maybe their travels to Yemen or some other Middle East hot spot have garnered suspicion. Maybe they told the FBI to take a hike when they requested an interview.
Ultimately, though, the reasons are almost irrelevant. From Abbas' perspective, the placement on the no-fly list amounts to a denial of a traveler's basic rights: U.S. citizens can't return home from overseas vacations, children are separated from parents, and those under suspicion are denied the basic due process rights that would allow them to clear their name.
Abbas describes the security bureaucracy as Kafkaesque, a labyrinthine maze of overlapping agencies, all of which refuse to provide answers unless they are threatened with legal action. One lawsuit is still pending in federal court in Alexandria, Va. That case has followed what has become a familiar pattern: Abbas either files a lawsuit or exposes the case to public scrutiny through the media, and within a few days the individual in question is able to travel. Government officials then ask a judge to dismiss any lawsuits that were filed, saying the cases are now moot.
"The amount of people who experience tragic, life-altering travel delays is significant," said Abbas, who estimates he gets a call at least once a month from a Muslim American in dire straits because their travel has been restricted.
Government officials, of course, see it differently. They say they have a Traveler Redress Inquiry Program that lets people wrongly placed on the no-fly list, or the much broader terrorist watchlist, fix their circumstances.
More broadly, the government has argued in court that placing somebody on the no-fly list does not deprive them of any constitutional rights. Just because a person can't fly doesn't mean they can't travel, the government lawyers argue. They can always take a boat, for example.
"Neither Plaintiff nor any other American citizen has either a right to international travel or a right to travel by airplane," government lawyers wrote in their defense against a lawsuit by another of Abbas' clients. The teenager from Virginia had found himself stuck in Kuwait after suspicions about has travel to Somalia apparently landed him on the no-fly list.
Don't miss these Travel stories
Lords of the gourd compete for Punkin Chunkin honors
With teams using more than 100 unique apparatuses to launch globular projectiles a half-mile or more, the 27th annual World Championship Punkin Chunkin event is our pick as November’s Weird Festival of the Month.
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- Lords of the gourd compete for Punkin Chunkin honors
Exactly how many people are on the government's lists is unclear. Some of the most recent estimates, from late 2009, state that about 400,000 individuals are on the "watchlist," which requires a "reasonable suspicion" that the person is known or suspected to be engaged in terrorist activities. A much smaller number — about 14,000 — is on the "selectee list," meaning they will likely have to undergo rigorous screening to travel. And officials estimated that 3,400 individuals, including roughly 170 U.S. residents, are on the no-fly list.
Calls and emails to the Department of Homeland Security and State Department's Bureau of Consular Affairs were not returned.
Michael Migliore was told by security officials last month that he is on the no-fly list after he tried to take a flight from Portland, Ore., to Italy following his college graduation. Migliore, a Muslim and a dual citizen of the U.S. and Italy, was planning a permanent move to Italy to live with his mother.
Migliore, 23, suspects he was placed on the no-fly list after he refused to talk to the FBI without a lawyer in November 2010, when the bureau was investigating an acquaintance charged in a plot to detonate bomb at a Christmas tree lighting ceremony.
"I feel that I did the right thing," Migliore said of his decision to exercise his rights when questioned by the FBI. "I didn't do anything wrong. ... It's very frustrating, not knowing what's going to happen, if I'm ever going to get off this list."
For now, he's waiting in Portland until he can get his name cleared for travel.
In another case, an 18 year-old U.S. citizen living in Jordan with his parents was bounced from an EgyptAir flight to New York. Amr Abulrub had planned to lead Ramadan prayers at a Connecticut mosque.
After a few days of confusion, Abulrub learned from airline officials that the U.S. government had instructed EgyptAir to cancel his ticket. U.S. embassy officials in Amman have subsequently told Abulrub he can travel under certain restrictions, including a requirement that his flight to the U.S. be booked on an American airline. But Abulrub is leery of traveling at all for fear that he won't be allowed to go back to Jordan.
Abulrub's father, Jalal Abulrub, suspects his son has come to the attention of U.S. authorities because of his own writings. Jalal is a Salafist scholar who has sometimes written provocative articles and antagonized Christian evangelists he believed were disrespectful to Muslims. While Jalal says his family is Salafist — generally considered a fundamentalist sect of Islam — he is quick to point out that he has a long history of writing in opposition to the ideology espoused by Osama bin laden and al-Qaida.
"I am not going to let this go," Jalal said, referring to his son's inability to travel. "We don't allow anyone to oppress us."
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. | <urn:uuid:40da68b0-cc79-4bec-a96e-c4a43dce4905> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nbcnews.com/id/44149271/ns/travel-news/t/muslims-often-put-no-fly-list-without-explanation/?ns=travel-news&t=muslims-often-put-no-fly-list-without-explanation | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97526 | 1,485 | 1.585938 | 2 |
String Quartet | North American Representation
|Formed in 1985, the Quatuor Mosaïques is the most prominent period-instrument quartet performing today. The ensemble has been praised for their atypical decision to use gut-stringed instruments which, combined with their celebrated musicianship, has cultivated a unique sound for the group.|
"...the group does tap into something well beyond mere notes and rests. No doubt this is what people mean when they talk about music casting a spell."
The Philadelphia Inquirer | <urn:uuid:dca2a491-5d00-42c8-a04f-ae50b6d386e2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kirshdem.com/artist.php?id=qm&aview=home | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936439 | 110 | 1.820313 | 2 |
Karen Klein, bullied bus monitor, Boston bound
BOSTON (WHDH) -- The bus monitor victimized by middle school bullies in a video that went viral is Boston bound.
Karen Klein, the woman seen in the video as the target of vicious insults, is planning to spend Thursday in the Hub.
Part of her trip will be a duck boat ride through the city as she monitors some local kids.
Klein is now being recognized for her courage in Boston.
“I’m anxious to see everybody and say hi,” Klein said over the phone.
The grandmother will join local radio station Mix 104.1 in the fight to end bullying.
“I was only really only bullied for 10 minutes. Some people are for years. That’s what I hate. It’s terrible,” Klein said.
It’s message she's taken to national TV and beyond.
This has gone all over the world and it makes people aware of what goes on. People write to me to tell me they’ve been bullied. I hope it makes them feel better to be able to tell somebody,” Klein said.
A Boston school committee member plans to make Klein an honorary bus monitor. Then she'll hop aboard one of the city's iconic duck boats for an unforgettable day of sightseeing. | <urn:uuid:da302809-0015-420e-b3b6-9b30d725a3ab> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www1.whdh.com/news/articles/local/boston/12007853232661/karen-klein-bullied-bus-monitor-boston-bound/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948103 | 280 | 1.515625 | 2 |
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Dear Brother : . . . I was heartily glad you got out of the War Department. The mission to Mexico is a very honorable one, and with your views on " annexation " is a very safe one for the country. We all hope that the French will go out, and that you will keep the United States out. We want as little to do with Mexico politically as possible, and as much trade with her as is profitable. She is terribly in need of a strong government, and if her mixed population would elect you or some other firm military ruler as emperor or king, it would be lucky for her, but a bad business for the elected one. I have never seen the elements of a stable government in Mexico, but she has physical resources that might, under a firm ruler, make her the second power in America. Self-government is out of the question. The worst enemies of Mexico are her own mixed, ignorant population. If Maximilian could have held on, he would have secured them physical prosperity ; but sooner or later the pride of our people aroused against European intervention would have got us into a quarrel with him. It is therefore best that he leave. What you can do for or with Mexico we will see. Your military reputation and aptitude with all classes may help to bring order out of chaos. . . .
Your reception at Havana must have been grateful, and the whole Mexican trip will no doubt close agreeably for you a year of trials and ovations. If they don't make you emperor down there, we will welcome you back as the " republicanizer " of the worst anarchy on the globe. If you establish Juarez, come away by all means in hot haste before the next pronunciamiento.
As for domestic matters, Congress meets to-morrow, very much irritated at the President. As for Butler or impeachment, you need not fear we shall follow the one or attempt the other. Johnson ought to acquiesce in the public judgment, agree to the amendment, and we shall have peace. The personal feeling grows out of the wholesale removal of good Union men from office. Campbell is as responsible for this as any man in Ohio; while I was under a cloud for being friendly to Johnson and absent from the State, they turned out all my special friends and put in Copperheads. . . .
- The Sherman Letters Correspondence Between General and Senator Sherman from 1837 to 1891, Book by Rachel Sherman Thorndike, 1894, digitized by the Internet Archive | <urn:uuid:6f868d52-756e-4a51-bb6d-ab559c51fc20> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.familytales.org/dbDisplay.php?id=ltr_jos1684&city=washington | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975209 | 543 | 1.734375 | 2 |
The following hands are a good example of when not to finesse; in other words, if contract is sure without making a finesse, avoid the risk.
N. 46 108 ✓ JlOxx • KQxxx ▪ x x W.
• K x 11, Ace • J 10 x x x • J 10 x x x S.
4. AceQJ 9 xxx
K Q • x x • Acc Q The contract was Four Spades by S and W led out his Ace of Hearts and then the J of Clubs; S is now in with his Q of Clubs and can afford to lose two more tricks; the Ace of Diamonds and the King of Spades. He led a small Diamond to establish an entry in the hand of dummy; E took the trick with his cold Ace and E and W set up a cross ruff in Hearts and Diamonds.
S should have led the Ace of trumps at once and then the Q to clear the suit and nothing can defeat him then if the trumps break 2-2. Of course it was very bad luck finding his opponents with two cold Aces but to embark on a finesse is unnecessary; if a Contract lies, do not bother about overtricks if there is a risk entailed but go the simplest way to your goal.
The key to the whole thing is a simple calculation of odds; if the finesse comes off in trumps, then it is true there is an addtional 30 points above the line, but if it fails there is a possible loss of hundreds of points. What point is there in taking such odds as these? The same argument applies to doubling and redoubling. Count the odds; if your double comes off—a risky double, in which you can scarcely expect to set the contract by more than one trick—is it worth making? Or is a redouble worth it if it opens the bidding again and may give the opponents a chance to call? It is the rapid review of factors such as these that mark the steady player, who in the end must win. | <urn:uuid:8545ecce-2385-4b8c-b856-acc4aba342fa> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://archive.catholicherald.co.uk/article/7th-may-1937/10/bridge-notes | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96384 | 427 | 1.640625 | 2 |
Downer attacks terrorism stance
The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Alexander Downer, has launched a scathing attack on countries that blocked the United Nations' moves to combat terrorism.
Addressing the UN's General Assembly in New York, Mr Downer was more critical of the lack of progress than was the Prime Minister, John Howard, when he addressed the UN last week.
Mr Downer said: "On arms control and non-proliferation we have absolutely nothing to show - an extraordinarily poor outcome given a contemporary global security environment in which proliferation threats are so clearly evident. The outdated ideology that too many delegations brought to negotiations was a damningly deep reflection on the intergovernmental process at the United Nations.
"We did not grasp the opportunity provided by the largest-ever gathering of world leaders to produce a political declaration defining acts of terrorism.
"How can some nations continue to assert that the deliberate maiming and targeting of civilians is sometimes justified?"
Some countries have refused to agree to a common definition of terrorism, arguing over "state terrorism" and resistance to occupying forces.
The UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, has proposed that any action intended to kill or injure civilians with the aim of intimidating a population or forcing a government into some action is terrorism.
Mr Downer also criticised the UN's lack of progress in combating nuclear proliferation, calling last week's world leaders summit a lost opportunity.
He said the international framework against proliferation was being tested by "a small minority of governments that flout the norms and standards observed by the rest of the international community".
These countries "imperil the security of us all", he said, adding he had witnessed earlier this year a nuclear proliferation treaty conference "thwarted by a few countries determined to prevent consensus". | <urn:uuid:5138c917-5929-4051-92bf-673bee593bed> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/downer-attacks-terrorism-stance/2005/09/21/1126982124542.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946278 | 363 | 1.804688 | 2 |
To get an idea, get those new digital weight scales, from costco or bed bath and beyond, they give you a reading of Body Mass Index bmi, water, muscle, bones, and body fat. Oh yes and weight.
From my understanding, they send a little zap through your feet, and calculate.
This way, if you drank a gallon of fluids, and your blood cells are well hydrated, the scale will give you credit for muscle gain and fat loss, even though your gravity weight is up due to water retention and the "output" pending in your intestine.
Read up on BMI its a more honest measurement when dieting and trying to shed fat weight.
By the way, when you exercise, you build muscle and burn fat. Muscle is dense and weighs more than fat.
Example is that your waist line belt line is slimmer (fat loss) but the weight scale says more lbs (muscle gain)
Trust BMI, and get a good bmi scale with good reviews, not the cheapie with sporatic results. Read the manual, for accurate readings, your feet need to be slightly damp or wet for the electric sensor to work. | <urn:uuid:11ef0b38-4b01-44ab-95cd-bb18b77ff087> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=64147&skip_to_post=549312 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94299 | 242 | 1.8125 | 2 |
Happiness and sadness run parallel to each other.
When one takes a rest,
the other one tends to take up the slack.
I remember the lowest point in my life, when I was having one problem after another, I didn’t stop to ask myself if I was happy.
I knew I wasn’t.
Whether happiness is a state of mind, an emotion or a goal.
A big house, a new dress or even just a huge slice of pepperoni pizza,
it doesn’t matter.
What matters is that when we are happy—we know it.
And if I were to ask you, I’m sure you’d be able to tell me if you were, too.
We don’t need to look up the definition of happiness in the dictionary.
We don’t need to study religion or philosophy (although they could help). Whether we are happy in general.
Or for a week, a day or a moment.
We feel it. We experience it.
We just are.
The pursuit of happiness
is a most ridiculous phrase:
if you pursue happiness you’ll never find it. | <urn:uuid:046fcdda-a7fd-4004-b01e-e1b32edbe061> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://voiceofnothing.tumblr.com/page/22 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938142 | 249 | 1.78125 | 2 |
about 1969 or 1970
at Helen Parker's house
My great-aunt on my father's side Mary Agnes "Mae" Killeen was married to Clifton Maynard Holland. For awhile they lived with her mother Mary Theresa Walsh, but by 1930 Mae and Cliff had their own home just a couple streets away.
And that’s where they still were in 1940: 2016 Richmond Avenue in Portsmouth, Virginia, a home valued at $3500.
|2016 Richmond Avenue|
from Google Maps
Cliff (age 42) had only a 6th grade education. Mae (age 41) completed one year of high school. Their son John (age 23) likewise had completed one year of high school while daughter Jean (age 14) had completed six years of school.
Cliff was a salesman for an automobile garage. He worked all of 1939 earning only $720. He worked 60 hours the last week of March 1940. Good grief! That sounds like a lot of work for little pay. Thank goodness their son John was still at home earning a good living as a welder for the Navy shipyard; he made $1100 in 1939.
|John as a baby probably 1918 or 1919|
Their other daughter Mary Evelyn “Ebbie” was no longer living there, so I’m guessing she had married and moved away by then. As of today, I have not found her in the 1940 census, so it is possible she moved to a state that has not yet been indexed.
|Mae and Ebbie 1920|
But it’s also possible the enumerator’s handwriting was misread resulting in the indexer recording the name wrong. On Ancestry, my Holland family is indexed as “Halland.” Thankfully, on FamilySearch the names are correct.
|Click to enlarge| | <urn:uuid:a6cd58b0-fbd5-4e6e-8799-404501aa6b1d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://jollettetc.blogspot.com/2012/07/census-sunday-mae-holland.html?showComment=1342386049850 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976295 | 385 | 1.53125 | 2 |
Juliette Reinders-Folmer, a colleague of mine from PHPWomen, is currently involved in a project which is both heartbreaking and heartwarming at once. It’s the ‘Remember me when I’m gone’ project – which provides parents who know that they will die while their children are young an opportunity to record a memory book. The memory book helps children foster a sense of identity after losing a parent, through being able to understand the messages and images left to them.
From their website;
Request for your help from the Remember me when I’m gone project
The Remember me when I’m gone project is a world-wide, no-budget, non-profit initiative which aims to inspire, motivate and help parents who expect to die before their child(ren) have grown up, to make a memory book about their own life for their child / each of their children.
Though the concept of memory books is valid in all situations where the early death of a parent is imminent, memory books have so far mainly been used in AIDS-related projects where the concept has more than proven its worth.
The Remember me when I’m gone project opens up access to the memory book concept to all by providing a generic Memory Book template through the website www.remembermewhenimgone.org. We realize there are numerous projects in the field which already work with memory books, however with this project we hope to fill the gap for people who are not in these projects.
This template can be downloaded free of charge and is currently available in over a 100 languages. Distribution of the template is freely allowed providing the document is distributed as is and without charge. | <urn:uuid:02d91ef7-bc37-4d1b-a31e-4dd305dd0166> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.kathyreid.id.au/2008/08/31/remember-me-when-im-gone/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947066 | 349 | 1.78125 | 2 |
And whoever does not welcome you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet [as you]a are going out of that house or [that]b town.
Truly I say to you, it will be more bearable for the region of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town!
"Behold, I am sending you out like sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.
But beware of people, because they will hand you over to councils, and they will flog you in their synagogues.
And you will be brought before both governors and kings because of me, for a witness to them and to the Gentiles.
But whenever they hand you over, do not be anxious how [to speak]c or what you should say, for what you should say will be given to you at that hour.
For you are not the ones who are speaking, but the Spirit of your Father [who is] speaking through you.
"And brother will hand over brother to death, and a father [his] children, and children will rise up against parents and have them put to death,
and you will be hated by everyone because of my name. But the one who endures to the end--this one will be saved.
And whenever they persecute you in this town, flee to another, for truly I say to you, you will never finish [going through] the towns of Israel until the Son of Man comes.
"A disciple is not superior to his teacher, nor a slave superior to his master. | <urn:uuid:0272c16d-0b1b-4961-89d4-a6ea0dfb58ca> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.biblestudytools.com/leb/matthew/passage.aspx?q=matthew+10:14-24 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964366 | 342 | 1.671875 | 2 |
- The Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA) measures student achievement in critical thinking and analytic writing. LC students, over the course of their studies, improved in both areas at a rate 33% higher than their counterparts nationwide.
- The National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) shows that LC seniors rank from 10% to 40% higher than the national average on a variety of measures of academic engagement such as interaction with faculty outside class.
- LC students are committed to their local and global community: they log over 70,000 hours of service each year, both in the U.S. and abroad.
- There are more than 100 student organizations on campus, many of which take on special service projects.
- 163 ODAC (Old Dominion Athletic Conference) championships, including seven in 2011-12.
- Over the last four years, the majority of ODAC All-Academic Team members were LC students. In recent years, 26 Coach of the Year awards have gone to Lynchburg College coaches. | <urn:uuid:67880f2d-c95b-4c99-b4ab-33217f371c7f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.lynchburg.edu/giving/points-pride | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964956 | 206 | 1.65625 | 2 |
The Vietnam War is raging. Thousands of miles away, four Aboriginal girls stand in a row, orange dolls in front of an alien panel. They waver as nerves cut through their steely calm.
Little do the singers know that they are on their way to being famous. Little do we know - the way showbiz should be - that, in reality, the actresses are wearing dresses held together by sticky tape.
Just moments before, The Sapphires costumes had been hastily repaired.
"These are demure girls, but these dresses had no hem, they were chopped off to the wahzoo", recalls costume designer, Tess Schofield, as she remembers shooting the audition scene in the hit film. "We had 15 minutes to add a couple of inches to each dress. Some of it was done with sticky tape - it was nuts."
As homespun as the outfits may have been, the Aussie hit is set to gross $15million at the box office and two of its stars, Jessica Mauboy and Deborah Mailman, have just been honoured at the Deadly Awards.
Schofield, who is now working on the Sydney Theatre Company's production of Kate Grenville's The Secret River, speaks about the period outfits with affection - charming shortcomings and all.
Overseeing over 1000 costumes and working with a team of about 15 on the looks, Schofield recalls the challanges of the project. "Originally I was told 50 extras, on the day, we'd have 200.
"It's the biggest number of costumes that I've had to deal with," she said. She made sure that plenty of make-up was applied to tell-tale tattoos, checking hundreds of extras for any giveaway contemporary alarm bells.
The filming, packed into a "mad" eight weeks, unfolded in Victoria's Yorta Yorta country, Western Sydney sets, inner Sydney locations, and, of course, Vietnam.
There, the usual routines of the costume department were thrown - in that predictably unpredictable way that is so much a part of that bright, frenetic country.
The team's costume bus, which has a trailer attached to it, was a no-go for the Asian location filming. "They don't use them," explains Schofield, "so, the head of the Vietnamese production company arranged for a school bus to be transformed. Rails were put down the sides, seats removed, some days we'd leap onto the bus and clothes would fall down. It was an absolute circus."
But there were, of course, upsides to the country. "In Vietnam, luckily, you can get a suit made in a day."
It was a far cry from the workshop in Leichhardt where the costume department in Sydney set up base – but even at home, there is no such thing as an entirely smooth costume preparation.
Every show outfit had to be made in four versions and in multiples of two or three for each girl - something that put paid to any chance of the dresses being sourced from vintage suppliers.
"A lot of designs were done on the backs of envelopes, we ran out of time."
And as much of a star role as they play, the famous sparkling blue dresses were almost a tragedy. "The first thing that happened was that the wonderful fabric I had chosen for the sequin dresses wasn't accessible in Australia. So, we arranged to have it designed and imported.
"When it turned up, it looked like fairy bread - it was multi-coloured. In eight days, we had to re-source fabric and import it to our workshop - it wasn't the fabric I wanted, but it worked. The silvery underside gave a watery feel, it wasn't flat.'
The bolt was sent to seamstresses with measurements and instructions.
"But when the dresses came back from the seamstress, we were four short - and we didn't realise until we had filmed the bomb scene, when the long sequinned dresses are destroyed."
Doing their best heavy weaponry impression, Schofield and her team had taken cheese graters, blow torches, spray paint and oil to the glittering frocks. "It was great fun", she said, until the team realised they were four gowns down.
"Right, we'll take the bodices off the short dresses and remake the skirt for the long sequin dresses," Schofield recalls. The team cleared out the dining tent and, taking a trestle table each, set to work.
Time and time again, she praises her "wonderful" team and the "fantastic" actors. "Wayne [Blair, the film's director] put together a wonderful crew with big love."
But, logistics aside, the sheer scale of the story made the outfits a vast research project in themselves. "Socially and politically, there was so much going on in the '60s. Rendering that sassiness in the mainstream world of Australia - up against the country town, pub, station mentality, added another dimension", said Schofield.
Immersion came naturally for the seasoned costume designer, who devoured soul music record covers, vintage journalism photos, personal albums from Vietnam vets and Bob Hope Christmas Concerts. She feasted on Entertaining Vietnam, a Super 8 documentary that she found a "great inspiration" and worked with a military uniform expert.
The clothes told a tale. "Motown was on the rise, soul vibe is directional, towards the 70s it turned sexy, funky, sensual loose and groovy.
"We needed the girls to go on a journey. The songs each have a particular energy - you can't wear a go-go dress for People Make the World a Better Place after a bombing. Every outfit has a special vibe for the song that is being sung.
"The Sapphires love the mish [mission], they're dignified, not slutty, not overt, but respectful and demure."
And this is where the coral dresses, with their hastily-scalloped egdes come in. Sticky tape and a pair of pinking shears later and the dresses suited the scene – and stayed true to the girls from the mish.
"The dress lived out the song. It was meant to be a little, cobbled, homemade frock - and it really was."
The triumph? "The white boots. People love them. I wanted them to be shorter, with a chiselled toe and a different heel. We searched and searched and searched - in an ideal world, we would have had them made and in my eyes they weren't the perfect boot, but people loved them."
But, perhaps, the less we notice, as an audience, the better. "Costumes should be invisible", Schofield says. With the right clothes, "it can feel like actors are inhabiting their characters." | <urn:uuid:f40e5107-ef3f-4121-8be2-a0ac1aa0f0c5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.edenmagnet.com.au/story/362123/the-sapphires-a-costume-drama/?cs=36 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977923 | 1,423 | 1.53125 | 2 |
Support Message from the Center for Eating Disorders at Sheppard Pratt
Here is a transcript of the video:
I’m Dr. Steven Crawford. At the Center for Eating Disorders at Sheppard Pratt we are thrilled to be supporting Elena Rossini’s documentary “The Illusionists.” It is our hope that this documentary will open the door to provide insights to communities and individuals about how mass marketing media images are created and how they actually distort the true meaning of beauty. This distortion can result in individuals feeling a lot of self-doubt, and questioning themselves, and having body dissatisfaction. At the Center for Eating Disorders at Sheppard Pratt we frequently see the body image dissatisfaction leading to disordered eating and eating disorders. Through education, this documentary can serve to provide media literacy, which is a known protective factor against the development of eating disorders. Follow along with us, as we get updates on theillusionists.org
A huge, heartfelt thanks to Dr. Steven Crawford and the entire staff of the Center for Eating Disorders at Sheppard Pratt for their generous support and their constant encouragement.
As one of the premier treatment centers in the United States, The Center for Eating Disorders at Sheppard Pratt, located in Baltimore, Maryland, has been a leader in the evidenced-based treatment of eating disorders for more than 20 years. The Center’s interdisciplinary staff provides specialized care for children, adolescents and adults with eating disorders such as anorexia, bulimia and binge eating disorder. Our full continuum of care includes an Inpatient Program, Partial Hospital Program, and Intensive Outpatient Program as well comprehensive outpatient therapies and support groups. In addition to the provision of quality clinical care, The Center is committed to providing educational opportunities and events that enhance positive body image, media literacy and self-esteem for all. | <urn:uuid:2860ad73-8d02-43b1-8d3c-d2d2beb418a1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://theillusionists.org/sponsors/the-center-for-eating-disorders-at-sheppard-pratt/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943216 | 370 | 1.53125 | 2 |
ROME, March 27, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Cardinal Carlo Martini, who at the conclave of 2005 was a favorite of ‘social justice’ Catholics to be elected Pope, has penned a book wherein he supports homosexual relationships. The powerful Cardinal who was Archbishop of Milan until his retirement in 2002 at age 75, now lives in Jerusalem and suffers from Parkinson’s disease.
Given Cardinal Martini’s prominence in the Catholic Church (some sources suggest that he had quite a few votes to become Pope in the 2005 conclave) his statements on homosexuality point to a powerful counter-ideology that has made significant inroads into the Church’s teaching on the matter of homosexuality. It is an ideology or theology that was warned about already in 1986 by Martini’s contemporary Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI.
In his newly released book, Credere e conoscere (Faith and Understanding), Cardinal Martini posits his disagreement with the Catholic teaching against homosexual civil unions. “I disagree with the positions of those in the Church, that take issue with civil unions,” he wrote. “It is not bad, instead of casual sex between men, that two people have a certain stability” and that the “state could recognize them.”
Cardinal Martini says that he can even understand (but not necessarily approve) gay pride parades. He says he agrees with the Catholic Church’s promotion of traditional marriage for the stability of the human species, however he adds, it is “not right to express any discrimination on other types of unions.”
In his 1986 ‘Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons,’ then-Cardinal Ratzinger outlined the “causes of confusion regarding the Church’s teaching” on homosexuality. He described a false “new exegesis of Sacred Scripture which claims variously that Scripture has nothing to say on the subject of homosexuality, or that it somehow tacitly approves of it, or that all of its moral injunctions are so culture-bound that they are no longer applicable to contemporary life.”
Cardinal Ratzinger laid out the false theology and counters it with a true Biblical exegesis which seeks, he says, to “speak the truth in love.”
He warned that “increasing numbers of people today, even within the Church, are bringing enormous pressure to bear on the Church to accept the homosexual condition as though it were not disordered and to condone homosexual activity.”
“The movement within the Church,” he explained, is made up of “those who either ignore the teaching of the Church or seek somehow to undermine it. … One tactic used is to protest that any and all criticism of or reservations about homosexual people, their activity and lifestyle, are simply diverse forms of unjust discrimination.”
Most importantly he said, “No authentic pastoral programme will include organizations in which homosexual persons associate with each other without clearly stating that homosexual activity is immoral. A truly pastoral approach will appreciate the need for homosexual persons to avoid the near occasions of sin.”
He added: “But we wish to make it clear that departure from the Church’s teaching, or silence about it, in an effort to provide pastoral care is neither caring nor pastoral. Only what is true can ultimately be pastoral. The neglect of the Church’s position prevents homosexual men and women from receiving the care they need and deserve.” | <urn:uuid:ffba9840-8236-4e7b-9ddf-763816128348> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://catholicintl.com/index.php/science/evolution/811-cardinal-martini-has-had-too-many-martinis-now-supporting-gay-marriage | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968069 | 741 | 1.625 | 2 |
When an off-duty state trooper strayed into the area in his official vehicle, many in the crowd surrounded the car, pounded on the roof, and shouted angry threats. Turns out the trooper was just a guy trying to get home after taking a class at nearby Coppin State College. But in the eyes of many in the crowd, he symbolized abusive power and his presence at the rally was a deliberate provocation.
I watched all this on television at a dinner party with a group of about 20 people. Many of those present were incensed by what they saw.
"Those marchers make me sick," one acquaintance growled, pointing an angry finger at the screen. "The minute you have an incident involving the police, people come crawling out of the woodwork, whining about justice. Look at them!" He was practically gnashing his teeth in rage. "Politicians. The NAACP. They're nothing but a bunch of publicity seekers and ambulance chasers! If they care about justice so much, why don't they rally against violent crime? Why don't they march against drug dealers? What about justice for ordinary people who are tired of being victimized by crime? No, the only time people get worked up is when police are involved."
This point of view always makes me mad, and this happenstance was no exception. I'd have leapt across the table and whipped the guy's butt, except that, as everyone knows, I can't fight. But I'm not going to let the matter drop, because I suspect many of you agree with the guy at the party.
You wanna know why people seem more worked up about alleged acts of police brutality? I'll tell you: Because police are not outlaws, stupid! Police are not supposed to think or behave the way criminals think and behave. Police exemplify law and order on the streets. But more than that, police are instruments of public policy. And if a segment of the public expresses concern about police behavior, the rest of us had damn well better listen.
The rally, organized by the All People's Congress, was held to demand justice on behalf of Eli McCoy, the West Baltimore teenager who was shot and killed by Housing Authority police officer Kenneth M. Dean III after the victim of a purse-snatching identified McCoy as the suspect. According to newspaper accounts, Dean thought McCoy was reaching for a weapon. Witnesses claim the young man had surrendered and was on his knees with his hands in the air when the officer shot him. This shooting is very reminiscent of the death of Larry Hubbard on Oct. 7; witnesses to that incident
claimed Hubbard also had surrendered when police shot him. The Hubbard shooting is being investigated by the city and by the U.S. Justice Department. McCoy's family wants an outside investigation of his death as well.
For the record, I personally find it hard to believe that officers would deliberately execute unarmed men, as some of the witnesses in these cases seem to suggest. It seems more likely that the common element here is fear. Officers in so-called tough neighborhoods overreact to the slightest provocation and make mistakes. It is no coincidence that "tough" neighborhoods are, more often than not, located in underprivileged minority communities. We used to call them ghettoes, and that is precisely what they areisolated ethnic enclaves where the ordinary rules of law and order do not apply.
The people in those communities have every right to express their outrage. They have every right to question public policies that make such mistakes all too commonplace.
These people would march against outlaws tooif outlaws responded to expressions of community outrage. They'd write biting letters to the editorif outlaws read the paper. They'd issue denunciations from the pulpitif outlaws went to church. Community leaders and elected officials would give outlaws such a scolding that the outlaws would never forget itif outlaws gave a damn what community leaders and elected officials thought of them.
I should think the distinction between criminals and police is obvious. What I really do think is that deep down in the dark and hidden recesses of your souls, many of you want to blur the distinction between the law and the outlaw. You want police to adopt outlaw tactics, much as gunslingers like Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday cleaned up Tombstone by bending the law a littleas long as those tactics can be confined to the ghetto.
You all are part of the problem. You are part of the reason police officers are so afraid in certain neighborhoods and why citizens in those neighborhoods are so afraid of police.
I wish you'd all just shut up.
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812 Park Ave.
Baltimore, MD 21201 | <urn:uuid:7a1578b2-5f6a-4037-a6d2-e06b7a88cd1a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www2.citypaper.com/columns/story.asp?id=2202 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981836 | 1,043 | 1.65625 | 2 |
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